Mirza Muhammad Ilyas Baig, Aftab Haider Alv, Nazeefa Javed.
Prevalence of depression; hepatitis C during treatment with combination of pegylated interferon and ribavirin in our population.
Professional Med J Jan ;23(06):750-5.

With recent availability of Sofosbuvir, Chronic Hepatitis C treatment paradigm has changed considerably. However for a resource constrained country like Pakistan, still the standard treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C remains the combination of Interferons and Ribavirin. Depression, sometimes major, is a recognized side effect of this combination. Objective: The objective of our study was to analyze the prevalence of depression during treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin in patients infected with Hepatitis C at two tertiary care hospitals Lahore. Setting: All these patients were selected randomly from outpatient departments at Fatima Memorial Hospital and Alshafi Hospital Lahore. Duration of study: Duration of our study was two years and 3 months from January 2010 to April 2012. Patients and Method: We included 180 patients in our study. We confirmed the diagnosis of chronic hepatitis C in all these willingly participated patients. All these participants were put on combination of pegylated interferon and ribavirin. Serial follow ups were done for the assessment of development of depression during the treatment of Hepatitis C. Results: 46.8 (26%) patients developed depression during treatment. Depression was more common in the middle of treatment which gradually improved near the end of treatment. Conclusion: We reached at a conclusion in our study that there is definite correlation of depression with pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy in hepatitis C patients.

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