We are collaborating with patient groups both pan-European and country-specific to ensure better outcomes for patients and appropriate utilisation of healthcare resources. It is important that hepatic encephalopathy is recognised as a life threatening condition and healthcare systems report it like other critical conditions, so that patients can be managed accordingly.
Hepatic encephalopathy is a serious and potentially life-threatening neuropsychiatric condition associated with liver cirrhosis1. In Europe 200,0002 people are affected by hepatic encephalopathy yet it remains under-diagnosed and under-treated, as many patients and carers are unaware of the signs and symptoms of the disease. This results in poor quality of life for patients and a high burden on those who care for them.3,4 Healthcare providers don’t always identify and treat the often subtle symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy which leads to mediocre patient outcomes and an increase in hospital admissions.5
In collaboration with the European Liver Patients Association (ELPA) we launched a report Time to DeLiver: Getting a Grip on hepatic encephalopathy which aims to drive change in the perception, identification and management of hepatic encephalopathy and to date remains the only report in Europe for this disease.
1 Patidar KR. et al. Covert hepatic encephalopathy is independently associated with poor survival and increased risk of hospitalization. Am J Gastroenterol. 2014. 109. 1757-63.
2 Amodio P, Del Piccolo F, Pettenò E, et al. Prevalence and prognostic value of quantified electroencephalogram (EEG) alterations in cirrhotic patients. J Hepatol. 2001;35(1):37-45.
3 Jasmohan S. Bajaj. et al. The Multi-Dimensional Burden of Cirrhosis and Hepatic
Encephalopathy on Patients and Caregivers. Am J Gastroenterol. 2011 Sep; 106(9): 1646–1653.
4 A. Sanyal. et al. Randomised clinical trial: rifaximin improves health-related quality of life in cirrhotic patients with hepatic encephalopathy – a double-blind placebo-controlled study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2011 Oct;34(8):853-61.
5 Hepatic Encephalopathy in Chronic Liver Disease: 2014 Practice Guideline by the European Association for the Study of the Liver and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Journal of Hepatology 2014; 61(3):642-659
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