Depression in patients with chronic hepatitis-C treated with direct-acting antivirals: A real-world prospective observational study

Effect of gender difference on psychiatric outcomes for hepatitis C virus patients receiving direct-acting antivirals in Egyptian population: a cohort study

Background

Chronic liver disease is primarily caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV produces extrahepatic psychiatric problems. So, patients with CHC who received sofosbuvir-based direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) were evaluated for psychiatric manifestations, specifically depression and anxiety symptoms. Additionally, evaluate the impact of gender on psychiatric manifestations of sofosbuvir-based DAAs and identify their potential risk factors for psychiatric manifestations. In this prospective study, 170 CHC patients without prior treatment received DAA therapy who categorized into 2 groups, group 1 comprised male participants (Nb = 97), and group two comprised female participants (Nb = 73). All participants were evaluated with the five-factor model of personality (SIFFM), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDS), and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAS) at baseline and repeated follow up until 3 months after treatment end.

Results

Our findings indicated that, a progressive decline in the mean HADS-A and HADS-D scores between baseline (before treatment) and consequence follow-up (during and after treatment) measurements without significant difference regarding gender. No statistically significant difference between the groups regarding the mean values of SIFFM. High levels of extraversion were more likely to increase depression levels.

Conclusions

DAA treatment significantly improved anxiety and depression symptoms in CHC patients. Gender did not affect sofosbuvir-based DAA psychiatric symptoms. High extraversion increased depression risk.

Impact of Hepatitis C Virus Cure on Depressive Symptoms in the Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Hepatitis C Virus Coinfected Population in Canada

BACKGROUND

Depression is common in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), with biological and psychosocial mechanisms at play. Direct acting antivirals (DAA) result in high rates of sustained virologic response (SVR), with minimal side-effects. We assessed the impact of SVR on presence of depressive symptoms in the HIV-HCV coinfected population in Canada during the second-generation DAA era (2013-2020).

METHODS

We used data from the Canadian CoInfection Cohort (CCC), a multicenter prospective cohort of people with a HIV and HCV coinfection, and its associated sub-study on food security. Because depression screening was performed only in the sub-study, we predicted Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-10 classes in the CCC using a random forest classifier and corrected for misclassification. We included participants who achieved SVR and fit a segmented modified Poisson model using an interrupted time series design, adjusting for time-varying confounders.

RESULTS

We included 470 participants; 58% had predicted depressive symptoms at baseline. The median follow-up was 2.4 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 1.0-4.5.) pre-SVR and 1.4 years (IQR: 0.6-2.5) post-SVR. The pre-SVR trend suggested depressive symptoms changed little over time, with no immediate level change at SVR. However, post-SVR trends showed a reduction of 5% per year (risk ratio: 0.95 (95% confidence interval [CI]: .94-.96)) in the prevalence of depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

In the DAA era, predicted depressive symptoms declined over time following SVR. These improvements reflect possible changes in biological pathways and/or better general health. If such improvements in depression symptoms are durable, this provides an additional reason for treatment and early cure of HCV.

Depressive symptoms are no longer a barrier to HCV treatment initiation in the HIV–HCV co-infected population in Canada

Background

Psychiatric illness was a major barrier for HCV treatment during the Interferon (IFN) treatment era due to neuropsychiatric side effects. While direct acting antivirals (DAA) are better tolerated, patient-level barriers persist. We aimed to assess the effect of depressive symptoms on time to HCV treatment initiation among HIV–HCV co-infected persons during the IFN (2003–2011) and second-generation DAA (2013–2020) eras.

Methods

We used data from the Canadian Co-infection Cohort, a multicentre prospective cohort, and its associated sub-study on Food Security (FS). We predicted Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-10 (CES-D-10) classes for depressive symptoms indicative of a depression risk using a random forest classifier and corrected for misclassification using predictive value-based record-level correction. We used marginal structural Cox proportional hazards models with inverse weighting for competing risks (death) to assess the effect of depressive symptoms on treatment initiation among HCV RNA-positive participants.

Results

We included 590 and 1127 participants in the IFN and DAA eras. The treatment initiation rate increased from 9 (95% confidence interval (CI): 7–10) to 21 (95% CI: 19–22) per 100 person-years from the IFN to DAA era. Treatment initiation was lower among those with depressive symptoms compared to those without in the IFN era (hazard ratio: 0.81 (95% CI: 0.69–0.95)) and was higher in the DAA era (1.19 (95% CI: 1.10–1.27)).

Conclusion

Depressive symptoms no longer appear to be a barrier to HCV treatment initiation in the co-infected population in the DAA era. The higher rate of treatment initiation in individuals with depressive symptoms suggests those previously unable to tolerate IFN are now accessing treatment.