Mental and physical symptoms associated with lower social support for patients with hepatitis C

Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of the study population

Patient characteristics	n (%) of total study population
Demographic characteristics
Mean age in years (SD)	45.2 (9.2)
Women	128 (37.4)
Racial/ethnic background
White	310 (90.6)
Black	19 (5.6)
Other1	13 (3.8)
Marital status
Living with partner	212 (62.0)
Living alone	130 (38.0)
Education
K-12	137 (40.1)
College	205 (59.5)
Employment prior to diagnosis
Employed	296 (90.0)
Unemployed	33 (10.0)
Current employment
Employed	217 (65.0)
Unemployed	117 (35.0)
Population of hometown
Rural	220 (64.3)
Urban	122 (35.7)
Interview to treatment status
Before	32 (9.4)
During	93 (27.2)
After	94 (27.5)
Naïve	123 (36.0)
Clinical characteristics
Current substance use
Yes	24 (7.0)
Total psychiatric diagnosis
0	251 (73.6)
1	74 (21.7)
2	14 (4.1)
3-5	2 (0.6)
Advanced liver disease (cirrhosis)	81 (23.8)
HCV due to IV drugs	177 (62.3)
HCV due to other methods of transmission	107 (37.7)
Mean Child-Pugh score (SD)	5.46 (1.2)

SD: Standard Deviation; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; IV: Intravenous.

¹Other ethnicity includes Hispanic, Native American, Asian and Pacific Islander.

Table 2 Characteristics of groups categorized by social support

	Social support group		P value
	Supportive environment (n = 250)	Unsupportive environment (n = 92)
Demographic characteristics
Mean age in years (SD)	45.33 (9.82)	44.88 (7.52)	0.49
Women	91 (71.1)	37 (29.0)	0.52
Racial/ethnic background			0.09
White	229 (73.9)	81 (26.1)
Black Other†	15 (79.0)	4 (21.0)
	6 (46.2)	7 (53.8)
Marital status			< 0.0011
Living with partner	171 (80.7)	41 (19.3)
Living alone	79 (60.8)	51 (39.2)
Education			0.59
K-12	98 (71.5)	39 (28.5)
College	152 (74.1)	53 (26.0)
Employment prior to diagnosis			0.63
Employed	218 (73.6)	78 (26.4)
Unemployed	23 (70.0)	10 (30.0)
Current employment			0.011
Employed	169 (78.0)	48 (22.0)
Unemployed	75 (64.1)	42 (36.0)
Population of hometown			0.29
Rural	165 (75.0)	55 (25.0)
Urban	85 (70.0)	37 (30.0)
Interview to treatment status			0.031
Before	23 (72.0)	9 (28.0)
During	72 (77.4)	21 (23.0)
After	76 (81.0)	18 (19.1)
Naïve	79 (64.2)	44 (36.0)1
Clinical characteristics			0.8
Current substance use
Yes	17 (71.0)	7 (29.0)
Total psychiatric diagnosis
0	197 (78.5)	54 (22.0)	< 0.0011
1	42 (57.0)	32 (43.2)
2	10 (71.4)	4 (29.0)
3-5	0 (0.0)	2 (100.0)
Advanced liver disease (cirrhosis)	63 (78.0)	18 (22.0)	0.27
HCV due to IV drugs	117 (66.0)	60 (34.0)	0.0021
HCV due to other methods of transmission	89 (83.2)	18 (17.0)
Mean Child-Pugh score (SD)			0.68
Normal	234 (69.0)	85 (25.0)
Elevated	15 (4.4)	7 (2.1)
Mean HAD summary scores (SD)
Depression score	4.04 (3.47)	6.95 (4.48)	< 0.0011
Anxiety score	6.57 (3.86)	8.95 (4.40)	< 0.0011
Mean SIP summary scores (SD)
Physical score	4.64 (7.03)	10.4 (12.17)	< 0.0011
Psychosocial score	10.81 (13.67)	22.9 (18.82)	< 0.0011
Mean SIP subscale scores (SD)
Social interaction	18.86 (25.40)	34.17 (27.72)	< 0.0011
Emotional balance	8.76 (12.06)	19.3 (16.30)	< 0.0011
Alertness	5.15 (8.69)	9.79 (11.24)	< 0.0011
Body care and movement	7.06 (12.56)	16.09 (23.73)	0.0021
Ambulation	9.60 (16.53)	22.38 (24.48)	< 0.0011
Mobility	4.34 (7.67)	11.19 (13.36)	< 0.0011
Communication	2.32 (6.41)	7.91 (12.63)	0.0011

SD: Standard Deviation; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; IV: Intravenous; HAD: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; SIP: Sickness Impact Profile. † Other ethnicity includes Hispanic, Native American, Asian and Pacific Islander.

¹Denotes statistically significant P value.