Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of direct antiviral treatment on depression, anxiety, fatigue and quality of life in patients with chronic hepatitis C.
Methods: Subjects included in study were treatment experienced and treatment naive chronic hepatitis C patients admitted to the hepatology outpatient clinic between December 2016 and June 2017. Before and after the treatment, Beck depression, Beck anxiety, liver-specific quality of life and fatigue severity-impact scales were administered. Descriptive statistical methods, Kolmogorov-Smirnov distribution test Wilcoxon sign and kappa coefficient tests were used to evaluate the study data.
Results: Forty-four patients were included in the study; however, it was completed with 35 patients only, as some of the patients were excluded for various reasons. There was no significant difference between depression and anxiety scores of the patients before and after the treatment, but depression and anxiety were found to be recovered in 28.5% (4/14) and 23.5% (4/17) of the subjects, respectively. At the end of the treatment, fatigue severity-impact scales and liver-specific quality of life were not significantly different from those before the treatment.
Conclusion: In this study, we found that direct antivirals did not lead to depression, anxiety or fatigue and did not decrease liver-specific quality of life. In some cases, depression and anxiety decreased after the treatment.