Health-State Utilities in Liver Cirrhosis: A Cross-sectional Study

Liver cirrhosis can change many aspects of life of the patients and their family and effects society. We aimed to study the utility of cirrhosis from the point of view of the patients, their family, and their care takers to find appropriate interventions, and training and counselling programmes to support patients.

In this cross-sectional study with a goal-based sampling method, 66 individuals constructed of 30 decompensated patients with cirrhosis, 21 of the patients family members, and 15 care takers were included. The data were collected through face to face interview and completing of questionnaire consisted of demographic information (age, gender, marital status, and income), the duration of illness, and assessment of utility of cirrhosis using techniques of time trade, standard gamble, rating scale, and the willingness to pay.

52% of participants were men and 48% women which consisted of 58 married, 4 single, and 4 divorced or widowed with the mean duration of having cirrhosis of 3.7 ± 1.4 years. The mean scores of utility of the three groups in all preference-based measures had significant differences (P < 0.05). Different techniques of patient utility in this research from the highest to the lowest were standard gamble (0.55), willingness to pay (0.54), rating scale (0.25), and rating scale (0.05), respectively.

The results of the currents study suggested that the cirrhosis status has had the most negative effect on patients, and that patients had a lower utility rate than their family members and caretakers.