Volume 7 - Nº 1

Depression and interferon therapy in chronic hepatitis c patients: epidemiology, predictive factors and proposed etiopathogenic models

António Cruz Neves, Christopher Dickens and Miguel Xavier

Objective: Neuropsychiatric symptoms are commonly associated with chronic hepatitis C virus infection and its treatment. In particular, interferon, a primary component of treatment for chronic hepatitis C, has been strongly associated with depressive symptoms. The aim of this review of the literature was to evaluate the incidence of depression and related predictive factors in patients with hepatitis C on interferon alpha therapy and the proposed etiopathogenic models.

Method: A review of the literature was undertaken. Results: An increase in depression or in psychiatric disturbance in general during therapy with IFN alpha was found - reported rates of interferon alpha- induced Major Depressive Disorder have ranged from 10% to 44% across studies. It appears that the development of depression in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with IFN alpha may be dependent on both duration of treatment and dosage of IFN alpha. Regarding the ascertainment of predictive factors for depression, the findings are not conclusive and sometimes contradictory.

Conclusions: More studies are needed in order to clarify the possible links and associations between INF use and depression. Furthermore, research is needed so that patients with psychiatric problems are not excluded from effective treatments for this growing medical problem.

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