Association of sociodemographical features, antiviral treatment, and necroinflammatory activity with depression and anxiety in chronic hepatitis B patients

Objective: Psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety are known to be more prevalent in patients with chronic hepatitis B than healthy individuals. This increased prevalence may be due to multiple factors such as psychological distress associated with having a chronic disease, necroinflammatory activity in liver, side effects of treatment with antiviral agents or interferons, and/or direct effect of hepatitis viruses on central nervous system. Purpose of this study was to evaluate several risk factors that may be associated with anxiety and depression in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Methods: This study included 195 chronic hepatitis B patients. A psychiatrist made clinical interviews with the patients and filled Sociodemographic Data Form, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS), and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Needle biopsies were performed to 175 patients who met biopsy criteria of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Knodell Histological Activity Index was used to evaluate biopsy materials. HBV DNA and ALT levels were measured from patients’ sera. Findings: In the study sample, 119 patients were males and 76 were females. Mean HARS score was 7.3±6.2 and mean HDRS score was 8.8±6.6. Both HARS and HDRS scores were higher in females than males. HARS score was higher in patients with a family history of chronic hepa itis and both HARS and HDRS scores were higher in patients with comorbid medical illness. Alanine aminotransferase, HBV DNA levels, and level of fibrosis in liver biopsy didn’t affect HARS or HDRS scores. Also, there wasn’t a difference in HARS or HDRS scores according to patients’ usage of pegylated interferon, or oral antiviral therapy. Conclusion: Multiple factors affect the relation between chronic hepatitis and psychiatric disorders like anxiety and depression. Results of our study suggest that female sex, presence of a family history for chronic hepatitis B, comorbidity of other medical diseases, and ethnic origin affect more than the level of necro-inflammatory activity and cellular damage in the liver or antiviral treatments.