Health-Related Quality of Life and Frailty in Chronic Liver Diseases

We sought to examine the relationship between frailty and health-related quality of life as evaluated using the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire in Japanese chronic liver disease (CLD) patients (n = 341, 122 liver cirrhosis cases, median age = 66 years). Frailty was defined as a clinical syndrome in which three or more of the following criteria were met (frailty score 3, 4, or 5): unintentional body weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, muscle weakness (grip strength: p < 0.0001). In the multivariate analysis, age (p = 0.0126), physical functioning (p = 0.0005), and vitality (p = 0.0246) were independent predictors linked to the presence of frailty. In conclusion, Japanese CLD patients with frailty displayed poorer conditions, both physically and mentally.