Tahoon MA, Elkhadry SW, Abdelsameea E, Ashour R. Fatigue assessment in Egyptian patients with hepatitis C virus-related chronic liver disease: Single center study. World J Hepatol 2026; 18(3): 113366 [DOI: 10.4254/wjh.v18.i3.113366]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Eman Abdelsameea, Professor, Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Gamal Abdelnasser Street, Shebin El Kom 32511, Egypt. eabdelsameea@liver-eg.org
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Mar 27, 2026 (publication date) through Mar 26, 2026
Times Cited of This Article
Times Cited (0)
Journal Information of This Article
Publication Name
World Journal of Hepatology
ISSN
1948-5182
Publisher of This Article
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
Share the Article
Tahoon MA, Elkhadry SW, Abdelsameea E, Ashour R. Fatigue assessment in Egyptian patients with hepatitis C virus-related chronic liver disease: Single center study. World J Hepatol 2026; 18(3): 113366 [DOI: 10.4254/wjh.v18.i3.113366]
World J Hepatol. Mar 27, 2026; 18(3): 113366 Published online Mar 27, 2026. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v18.i3.113366
Fatigue assessment in Egyptian patients with hepatitis C virus-related chronic liver disease: Single center study
Marwa A Tahoon, Sally W Elkhadry, Eman Abdelsameea, Reham Ashour
Marwa A Tahoon, Sally W Elkhadry, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shebin El Kom 32511, Egypt
Eman Abdelsameea, Reham Ashour, Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shebin El Kom 32511, Egypt
Author contributions: Elkhadry SW and Tahoon MA contributed to the conception and planning of the research; Elkhadry SW, Ashour R and Tahoon MA conducted the administration; Ashour R conducted the data collation; Tahoon MA conducted the statistical data analysis; Tahoon MA and Elkhadry SW were involving the data interpretation; Elkhadry SW, Ashour R, Tahoon MA, and Abdelsameea E authored the initial draft; Elkhadry SW, Tahoon MA, Abdelsameea E, Elkhadry SW, and Ashour R conducted the subsequent review and editing; all authors supervised the editing and preparation of the final text for publication.
Institutional review board statement: The research received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the National Liver Institute (NLI IRB 00014014), NLI IRB protocol No. 00632/2024.
Informed consent statement: Upon being fully apprised of the investigation's objectives, all participants in the investigation provided signed informed consent prior to recruitment. All participants have been informed that their responses & data would be treated with the utmost confidentially and that they might withdraw from the investigation at any time without consequences.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declared that they have no competing interests.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement- checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: Any interested person may have access to the datasets utilized in this study by reaching out to the corresponding author.
Corresponding author: Eman Abdelsameea, Professor, Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Gamal Abdelnasser Street, Shebin El Kom 32511, Egypt. eabdelsameea@liver-eg.org
Received: August 25, 2025 Revised: September 30, 2025 Accepted: January 8, 2026 Published online: March 27, 2026 Processing time: 215 Days and 15.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a significant global health concern, often associated with fatigue that influences patients' quality of life.
AIM
To assess prevalence of significant or severe fatigue in cases with HCV-related chronic liver disease and to detect factors independently related to fatigue using the multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI-20).
METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted at the National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Egypt, including 300 patients with chronic HCV infection. Participants with significant comorbidities or conditions impacting fatigue were excluded. Recruited participants completed a structured questionnaire on demographics, clinical and laboratory data with assistance from qualified physicians. Fatigue was evaluated in five domains (physical, general, reduced activity, decreased motivation and mental fatigue) using the MFI-20. Liver dysfunction severity was categorized using Child-Pugh and model for end stage liver disease (MELD) scores and liver fibrosis (FIB) was assessed via the FIB-4 index. Data were analyzed using descriptive and comparative statistics and multivariate regression.
RESULTS
Significant/severe fatigue was prevalent in 27.3% of chronic HCV patients. A higher MELD score, presence of a history of gastrointestinal bleeding, ascites, lack of antiviral treatment response, hepatic encephalopathy, antiviral treatment within the past year, and longer HCV infection were significantly associated with significant/severe fatigue. Decompensated liver disease, intermediate/high-risk FIB, < 1 year duration of last dose of antiviral treatment, and HCV infection duration were independent risk factors for fatigue.
CONCLUSION
Fatigue is highly prevalent among HCV-related chronic liver disease patients. Using the MFI-20, we revealed that fatigue severity is independently associated with liver disease severity, antiviral treatment, and infection duration. This highlights the necessity of regular fatigue assessment in clinical practice.
Core Tip: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is often associated with fatigue. We recruited 300 chronic HCV patients. Fatigue has been evaluated with multidimensional fatigue inventory-20 (validated tool to assess different dimensions of fatigue in this population. Significant/severe fatigue was prevalent in 27.3% of HCV patients. Decompensated liver disease, intermediate/high-risk fibrosis, < 1 year duration of last dose of antiviral treatment, and HCV infection duration were independent risk factors for fatigue. Fatigue is a widespread and complex symptom in cases with chronic HCV, closely linked to liver disease severity, antiviral treatment, and infection duration.
