Effects of liver transplantation on health-related quality of life in patients with primary biliary cholangitis

Background: Patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) have decreased health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Here, we investigate HRQoL in two cohorts of transplanted patients with PBC and compare their results to healthy subjects.

Patients and methods: We used generic SF-36 and disease-specific PBC-40 questionnaires to evaluate HRQoL in 26 patients with PBC (23 females, age 59.4 ± 5.7 years) before and after liver transplantation (LT), and in 107 patients with PBC (99 females, age 62.8 ± 6.7 years) who were previously transplanted. The control group was comprised of 60 healthy controls (55 females, age 54.6 ± 8.8 years).

Results: Health-related quality of life improved after LT in 85% of PBC patients. The SF-36 measure showed significant (all P < 0.05) improvements in the majority of domains after LT, and in the summary scores both physical and mental. We also documented significant improvements in pruritus and fatigue after LT (all P < 0.01). However, liver graft recipients had significantly worse physical functioning, physical role, and emotional role domains, and physical component score (all P < 0.001), as compared to healthy subjects. No differences in HRQoL were detected between patients evaluated after short and prolonged post-LT periods (P > 0.05).

Conclusion: Liver transplantation substantially improves most aspects of life quality in PBC patients. Nevertheless, their HRQoL remains worse in comparison to healthy individuals, mainly in physical aspects.