Amjad Ali, Ahmad Nawaz Babar, In Khan M Amin.
Mean Hamilton Rating Scale For Depression Using Pegylated Interferon Plus Ribavarin Therapy For Chronic Hepatitis C.
J Med Sci Jan ;23(4):251-5.

Objective: To compare mean depression scores on Hamilton rating scale before and after pegylated interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis C. Material and Methods: This study was conduced in the department of medicine Mardan Medical Complex, Mardan from July 2013 to January 2014. It was a Quasi-Experimental Study, patients suffering from chronic hepatitis C as confirmed by HCV anti bodies by ELISA and Positive Quantitative PCR and those who required treatment with pegylated interferon plus ribavarin were included in the study. After getting ethical approval and informed consent, patients were interviewed to measure the base line depression by presenting the Hamilton Rating Scale for depression (HAM-D) (Urdu version). All patients were followed and interviewed again at 12th week (HAM-D) to measure the score. Paired T-test was used to compare the difference in the depression score before and after treatment. Results: The study population consisted of 87 patients with mean age of 36.41 years ± 8.282 SD. There were 49 (56.3%) male and 38 (43.7%) female patients. The baseline depression score ranged from 1.0 to 16.0 with mean score of 4.50 ± 2.761 SD. 11.5% patients (10 out of 87) were having mild depression (HAM-D score, 7-17) before starting treatment. The depression score at the end of treatment ranged from 3.0 to 29.0 with mean depression score of 8.33 ± 5.455 SD. 31/87 (35.6%) patients had depression based on HAM-D. The baseline mean depression score using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale was 4.50 ± 2.761 SD which rose to 8.33 ± 5.455 SD after 12 weeks. The mean difference in depression score was 3.82 ± 4.786 SD and this difference was statistically significant. Conclusion: Depression is a relatively common complication of treatment with pegylated interferon plus ribavarin for chronic hepatitis C infection.

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