Functional status of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.

Objectives: Although autoimmune diseases can have a significant impact on the quality of life, there has been a relative paucity of data with respect to the functional status of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC).

Methods: We conducted a case-control study of 182 patients ("cases") with PBC as well as 225 age- and sex-matched friend control subjects using a standardized instrument obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Results: In all, 126 of 182 cases (69%) and 141 of 225 friend controls (62.