OBJECTIVES: Hepatitis C (HCV) is a major public health problem which is estimated to affect up to 30,000 people in the Republic of Ireland. There is little information regarding demographics or health-state utilities in this population in Ireland. We aimed to establish demographics and health-state utilities among patients with chronic HCV and differing degrees of liver disease. METHODS: A convenience sample of 200 patients with a current or past diagnosis of HCV, attending a specialist Hepatology outpatient service was recruited. Informed consent was obtained from all patients recruited and the study was approved by the institutional ethics review board. Information was collected on demographic and clinical parameters and patients were asked to complete the 5-level EQ-5D health-related quality of life (HRQL) questionnaire. Continuous variables were summarized with medians and standard deviations and compared using Students t-test. Categorical variables were summarized with proportions. P-values <0.05 were taken to indicate significance. RESULTS: A total of 134 (66%) were male; 149 (74%) were of Irish origin. The majority were single (n=90, 44%) and 117 (58%) were in either full-time or part-time employment. The median age was 40 years (range 24-76 years) and the mean years spent in full-time education was 11 years (range 1-25). Median health-state utility was 0.73 (+/-0.23). For patients with chronic HCV infection, health state utilities were as follows: Mild HCV 0.77 (+/- 0.19), Moderate HCV 0.74 (+/- 0.23), Cirrhosis 0.60 (+/- 0.35). Patients who had received treatment for HCV had a higher mean utility score than patients who were never treated (0.8 versus 0.69, p=0.002). Patients with cirrhosis had significantly lower mean utility scores than those without (0.60 versus 0.75, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: HCV adversely affects HRQL especially in those with cirrhosis.HCV treatment results in improved HRQL regardless of treatment outcome. This supports HCV treatment prior to the development of end-stage liver disease.