Objective
To assess the incidence rate and severity of depressive symptoms in different time points (12, 24 and 48 weeks) in Brazilian patients with HCV treated with PEG IFN plus ribavirin.
Methods
We conducted an observational prospective study using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).
Results
Fifty patients were included. The assessments with either scale showed the highest score of depressive symptoms in the 24th week of treatment; the mean BDI score before treatment was 6.5 ± 5.3 and the mean CES-D was 10.9 ± 7.8. After 24 weeks, the mean BDI was 16.1 ± 10.2 and mean CES-D was 18.6 ± 13.0; 46% were diagnosed with depression according to combined BDI and CES-D scores. The somatic/psychomotor subscales were highly correlated with overall scale scores . Subjects with history of substance and alcohol abuse had higher risk for IFN-induced depression.
Conclusion
Treatment with PEG IFN was associated with a high incidence rate of depressive symptoms in this sample of Brazilian patients, as measured by CES-D and BDI. Alcohol and substance abuse increase the risk of PEG IFN-induced depression.
HCV; pegylated interferon alpha-2b; interferon alpha; depression; hepatitis