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Fatigue and psychological disorders in chronic hepatitis C
Jennifer McDonald1, Jayasuriya Jayasuriya, Patricia Bindley
1Department of Gastroenterology, Wollongong Hospital, Australia. mcdonaldje@iahs.nsw.gov.au
Background And Aim:
Most patients with chronic hepatitis C report that they suffer from fatigue. The aim of this study was to determine if the symptom of fatigue can be a guide to indicate disease activity in chronic hepatitis C, or if it is related to psychological factors.
Methods:
115 chronic hepatitis C patients attending a liver clinic at Wollongong Hospital, Wollongong, Australia, were asked to fill out a questionnaire on the functional impact of their fatigue, and a questionnaire on psychological parameters. These were correlated with a history of intravenous drug use, alcohol history, transaminase levels and liver biopsy findings.
Results:
Fatigue weakly correlated with the level of fibrosis on the liver biopsy, but strongly correlated with all the psychological domains of depression, anxiety, somatization, interpersonal sensitivity and hostility.
Conclusion:
The level of fatigue strongly correlated with all the psychological domains, particularly depression, and not with our measures of disease activity.