DOES HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE REFLECT DISEASE SEVERITY IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS C PATIENTS?
Uwe Siebert1,2 Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer3 Wolfgang Greiner4 Gaby Sroczynski1 John B. Wong5 Karen M. Kuntz1 Birgit Kallinowski6 J.-Matthias Graf von der Schulenburg4 Monika Bullinger7 Siegbert Rossol8 German Hepatitis C Model (GEHMO) Group 1=Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA 2=University of Munich, Germany 3=Robert Koch-Institute, Berlin, Germany 4=University of Hanover, Germany 5=Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, USA 6=University Hospital of Heidelberg, Germany 7=University of Hamburg, Germany 8=University Hospital Mannheim, Germany During the course of chronic hepatitis C (CHC), patients may experience health states ranging from mild CHC to decompensated cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver transplantation that represent variation in disease severity. The objective of this study is to assess whether patient-derived health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measurements for actual patients with CHC reflect the severity of their disease. Methods: Current clinic
