Treatment-emergent depression and anxiety between peginterferon alpha-2a versus alpha-2b plus ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C

Table 2 Factors associated with depression during an antiviral treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection at week 12 and at week 24

Characteristics	Week 12			Week 24
Characteristics	β (95% CI)	Wald χ²	p-value	β (95% CI)	Wald χ²	p-value
Treatment group (Group 1 vs. Group 2)	1.33 (0.59–3.00)	0.475	0.490	1.09 (0.51–2.31)	0.046	0.830
Sex (female vs. male)	1.70 (0.69–4.18)	1.335	0.248	1.55 (0.70–3.43)	1.142	0.285
Age at recruitment (year)	0.98 (0.95–1.02)	1.012	0.315	0.99 (0.96–1.02)	0.887	0.346
Body weight (kg)	0.97 (0.94–1.01)	1.956	0.162	0.98 (0.94–1.01)	1.653	0.199
Alcohol use disorder	6.59 (2.31–18.74)	12.474	<0.001^**	5.96 (2.21–16.09)	12.424	<0.001^**
Number of physical comorbidities	1.25 (0.99–1.59)	3.365	0.067	1.23 (0.97–1.57)	2.901	0.089
α-fetoprotein level (ng/mL)	1.00 (0.99–1.02)	0.037	0.847	0.98 (0.96–1.01)	1.589	0.208
Genotype of HCV (non- 1 vs. 1)	1.31 (0.59–2.92)	0.446	0.504	1.57 (0.72–3.44)	1.275	0.259
Ribavirin daily dose (g/day)	1.49 (0.40–5.59)	0.343	0.558	2.23 (0.87–5.67)	2.802	0.094
Poor treatment response (HCV RNA positive)	1.70 (0.76–3.82)	1.658	0.198	2.43 (1.09–5.41)	4.748	0.029^*

Note: Group 1, patients who were treated with PegIFN-α-2a plus ribavirin; Group 2, patients who were treated with PegIFN-α-2b plus ribavirin; Depression, HADS depression score ≥ 8; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval
^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.001

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