Background and study aim: Liver cirrhosis is a complex chronic disease with a wide variety of morbidities and these complications directly affect the quality of life and result in significant morbidity and mortality. This study designed to determine the effects of an educational awareness program and continuous monitoring on quality of life (QOL) among cirrhotic patients and their complications.
Methods: Overall 18 cirrhotic patients included. An educational awareness program including a face-to-face training session, providing a guide booklet about caring of the liver cirrhosis, consulting with dietician and continuous monitoring of patients every other week was conducted and the patients followed for 6 months. The QOL, awareness score, complications of liver disease, severity of disease by using MELD score and laboratory parameters were evaluated at baseline and at the end of intervention.
Results: At the end of the intervention, the prevalence of complications, including edema, ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, variceal bleeding and hospitalization rate were significantly decreased compare to baseline (P<0.05). The average scores of awareness and QOL improved significantly (52.78±20.36 to 88.89±10.49; P=0.0001 and 141.89 ± 20.40 vs. 182.72 ± 10.27; P=0.0001 respectively). The laboratory parameters and the severity of the disease did not show any significant changes at the end of the study (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Using a simple educational program can significantly improve not only cirrhotics awareness and QOL but also reduce complications and duration of hospitalization which could be cost effective and worth to try among cirrhotics.