Open AccessPsychiatric Care of the Patient With Hepatitis C
Author(s) -
Muhamad Aly Rifai,
Ondria C. Gleason,
Douha Sabouni
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
primary care companion to the journal of clinical psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1537-6699
pISSN - 1523-5998
DOI - 10.4088/pcc.09r00877whi
Subject(s) - medicine , psychosocial , psychiatry , hepatitis c , population , anxiety , context (archaeology) , mental illness , mental health , immunology , environmental health , paleontology , biology
Approximately 1.8% of the US population is chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The prevalence rates of psychiatric illness in patients with HCV infection are higher than those rates in the general US population, and the prevalence of HCV infection in patients with severe mental illness may be as high as 9 times that of the general US population. Primary care physicians and psychiatrists are on the forefront of identifying patients with psychiatric illness who are at risk for HCV infection and can screen for HCV infection. This review summarizes the psychiatric implications of HCV infection and strategies for the management of interferon alfa-induced neuropsychiatric adverse effects.