Influence of Depression on the Quality of Life in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Introduction Chronic hepatitis C reduces the quality of life in patients causing fatigue, loss of self-confidence, reduced working capacity, development of depression, emotional problems, and cognitive dysfunction. Objective The aim of the study was to identify the presence of depression in patients with chronic hepatitis C, predicting factors for its expression, and the impact of depression on the quality of life in these patients. Methods During the prospective study, we used the Hamilton depression scale to investigate the presence of depression, generic 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and Chronic Liver Diseases Questionnaire (CLDQ) to examine the quality of life in 100 patients with chronic hepatitis C, 30 patients with chronic hepatitis B, 30 patients with chronic liver disease non-viral aetiology and 50 healthy persons. Results A significantly higher presence of depression, and cognitive dysfunction in patients with chronic hepatitis C were noted as compared to the healthy individuals (p=0.00). In relation to non-viral patients with chronic liver disease, depression was significantly less present (p=0.004). Depression was rare in younger patients. The largest number of patients with chronic hepatitis C was without depression. The presence of depression caused deterioration of the physical and mental components of the quality of life. Multivariate analysis showed that the most significant positive predictive factor for the presence of depression was married life (B=0.278; SE=0.094; p=0.004). Conclusion The presence of depression was more often in patients with chronic hepatitis C viral infection compared to healthy population and was correlated with decline in the quality of life. Depression is more pronounced in the elderly and intravenous drug addicts. The lowest depression is expected in patients who are not married.