Psychological impact of chronic hepatitis C: Comparison with other stressful life events and chronic diseases

Table 1 Characteristics of the 185 patients studied

	n = 185 (%)
Age (yr)	45 ± 11
Gender (male/female)	111/74
Educational level
No diploma	24 (13)
High school	83 (45)
College undergraduate	35 (19)
College graduate	43 (23)
Marital status
Single/divorced	57 (31)
Married	92 (50)
Non-married couple	36 (19)
Routes of transmission for HCV
Blood transfusion	74 (40)
Intravenous drug use	48 (26)
Others*	63 (34)
Histological severity (Metavir fibrosis score)	n = 169
F0-1	39 (23)
F2	83 (49)
F3	19 (11)
F4	28 (17)
Trait anxiety (STAI)	45 ± 11 (20-80)

Table 2 Factors associated with diagnosis-related stress in univariate analysis in the 185 patients

	Diagnosis-related stress(mean VAS scores)	P
Age (yrs)
< 46	73 ± 25
≥ 46	72 ± 24	NS
Gender
Male	72 ± 24
Female	79 ± 22	< 0.003
Educational level
< High school	75 ± 24
≥ High school	69 ± 25	0.07
Marital status
Single/divorced	73 ± 25
In couple	72 ± 24	NS
Routes of transmission for HCV
Blood transfusion	80 ± 20
Intravenous drug use	65 ± 27
Others	68 ± 26	< 0.002
Antiviral therapy
Ongoing	69 ± 25
Untreated	74 ± 25	NS
Histological severity of liver disease (n = 169)
F0-F1-F2 (n = 122)	74 ± 23
F3-F4 (n = 47)	70 ± 29	NS
Time since diagnosis (yrs)
< 2	71 ± 26
≥ 2	73 ± 24	NS
Perceived disease severity (VAS)
< 75	59 ± 23
≥ 75	83 ± 21	< 0.001
Trait anxiety (STAI)
< 45	64 ± 27
≥ 45	81 ± 19	< 0.001

For continuous variables (age, time since diagnosis, perceived disease severity and trait anxiety) patients were divided into two groups according to the median value.

Table 3 Factors associated with diagnosis-related stress in multivariate analysis in the 185 patients

	Diagnosis-related stress(100mm VAS score)2
	β1	P
Gender : (male: 1, female: 2)	0.02	0.76
Routes of transmission: (drug user = 1; other = 2, blood transfusion = 3)	0.17	<0.01
Educational level: (< high school:1, ≥ high school:2)	-0.03	0.58
Anxiety (STAI-Y score)	0.30	<0.001
Perceived disease severity (100mm VAS score )	0.43	<0.001

¹regression coefficient.

²Regression model: R = 0.60, R² = 0.36, adjusted R² = 0.35, F(5, 171) = 19.65, < 0.001.