Belgin Sarper Can
Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis caused by excessive alcohol consumption, viral hepatitis, or non-alcoholic fatty liver most of which are preventable lead to morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of etiologic causes is closely related to cultural and economic reasons. In Turkey, viral hepatitis is the major cause of chronic liver diseases with a prevalence rate of 50 to 90%. It is followed by alcoholic cirrhosis with a prevalence rate of 10% . According to annual statistics in Turkey, 19,120 patients were treated in hospitals because of cirrhosis. Of them 1,101 died and the others were discharged. The studies in the literature show that physical, mental, social and economic domains of the quality of life are impaired due to chronic liver disease. There are many factors reducing health related quality of life (HRQOL) such as disease symptoms, disease severity and disease type, complications of liver disease, age, female sex, low socioeconomic status, financial burden, and poor health perception of HRQOL [4-9]. Chronic liver disease with various etiologies differs from asymptomatic chronic hepatitis to decompensated cirrhosis. That is why, symptoms, especially the ones affecting the quality of life, vary. Most patients can remain asymptomatic until decomposition occurs. In the previous studies, patients with decompensated cirrhosis reported poorest HRQOL, which is followed by patients with compensated cirrhosis.