Prevention of interferon-alpha associated depression in psychiatric risk patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Background/aims: Interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) induced depression is a major limitation for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C, especially for patients with psychiatric disorders. We prospectively studied the efficacy of a pre-emptive treatment with the antidepressant citalopram to prevent depression during hepatitis C treatment with pegylated IFN-alpha-2b plus ribavirin.

Methods: 14 HCV infected patients with psychiatric disorders received a prophylactic medication with citalopram (20mg/day) before and during therapy with IFN-alpha.