Interferon-induced depression in patients with hepatitis C: an epidemiologic study.

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 24(th) 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.