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Norepinephrine-enhancing antidepressant exposure associated with reduced antiviral effect of interferon alpha on hepatitis C

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 21:51 authored by Renata Sofia Fialho, Alison Burridge, Marco Pereira, Majella Keller, Alexandra File, Jeremy Tibble, Richard Whale
RATIONALE: Major depressive disorder is a common consequence of exposure to the pro-inflammatory cytokine interferon alpha, which is treated effectively with antidepressant medication. Antidepressant mode of action may conflict with interferon alpha's mechanism in treating hepatitis C however. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to prospectively explore, in a large naturalistic cohort, whether antidepressant exposure influenced end of treatment response of hepatitis C to interferon alpha. METHODS: Two hundred thirty-nine patients infected with chronic hepatitis C and due to receive treatment were recruited. All participants initiated peg-interferon-2-alpha 180 µg weekly sub-cutaneously plus oral ribavirin 800-1200 mg daily. Participants were assessed for DSM-IV major depression at baseline and four weekly during treatment. RESULTS: 32.6 % of the cohort was exposed to an antidepressant (serotonin-reuptake inhibitor: other categorised antidepressants 49:29). At baseline, 3.8 % had major depression and 55.2 % developed major depression during interferon alpha treatment. Exposure to an antidepressant not classified as a serotonin-reuptake inhibitor, of which all were norepinephrine-enhancing (OR 0.15, 95 % CI 0.04-0.60) and having a past history of psychiatric disorder (OR 4.41, 95 % CI 1.39-13.96) independently reduced the likelihood of end of treatment response. Serotonin-reuptake inhibitor exposure did not influence end of treatment response (OR 1.21, 95 % CI 0.35-4.19), neither did major depression at baseline (OR 2.31, 95 % CI 0.55-9.60) or during treatment (OR 0.69, 95 % CI 0.36-1.33). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support a lack of conflict of therapeutic mechanism of serotonin-reuptake inhibitor antidepressants with interferon alpha in treating hepatitis C, which may include inflammatory influence. This appears not to be true for norepinephrine-enhancing antidepressant types and warrants investigation using more direct methods.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Psychopharmacology

ISSN

0033-3158

Publisher

Springer Verlag

Issue

9

Volume

233

Page range

1689-1694

Department affiliated with

  • Sussex Centre for Genome Damage Stability Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-07-23

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