Intense itching, also known as pruritus, appears to significantly reduce the health-related life quality of patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), a recent study reveals.
“Two-thirds of patients diagnosed with PBC experience pruritus. Amongst patients with pruritus, nearly a third have symptoms despite medical therapy. Pruritus significantly impacts the quality of life and can lead to sleep deprivation, fatigue, depression and suicidal ideation,” the study authors wrote.
The goal of this study was to determine the effect of pruritus on health-related quality of life in patients with PBC. The researchers enrolled 68 participants between June 2018 and November 2021. Those with symptoms of more than one immune disease, also known as the overlap syndrome, or prior liver transplantation, could not participate in the study.
The researchers used two different questionnaires to evaluate the effect of itching severity: the chronic liver disease questionnaire and the PBC-40 questionnaire. Next, the itching was evaluated and categorized according to the PBC-40 itch domain as non-clinically significant and clinically significant, and according to the Five-D Itch scale, as insignificant, mild, and moderate to severe. The obtained data were statistically analyzed.
Read more about PBC signs and symptoms
According to the results, 89% of participants were female, and 28% of participants had scarring of the liver called cirrhosis. Based on the PBC-40 questionnaire, patients with clinically significant pruritus had significantly worse health-related quality of life compared with those who did not experience such an intense level of itching.
The Five-D Itch scale showed similar results: patients with moderate to severe itching had a lower health-related quality of life compared with those whose pruritus was mild or not significant.
“There are limited studies that have assessed the effect of itching severity on health-related quality of life amongst patients with PBC”, the researchers added.
