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Substance Abuse And Psychosocial Factors In The Hepatitis C Population: Identifying Risk Factors In Disease Severity And Quality Of Life, Jill Courtney Clarida

Theses and Dissertations

Hepatitis C is the most common chronic blood-borne infection in the United States. Research has focused on contributing factors to the development and progression of liver disease, but few studies have considered nicotine use as a potential prognostic factor with CHC. Research has commonly found that CHC patients report with a diminished quality of life. Several factors have been proposed to account for a decrease in QOL; however, the mechanisms underlying the impairment in QOL have not yet been elicited. 76 CHC patients completed self-report measures on a variety of psychosocial variables and biochemical data for determining the patient's liver …