Recurrence of depressive disorders after interferon-induced depression.
Interferon alpha (IFN-α)-treated patients commonly develop depression during the therapy period. Although most IFN-α-induced depressive disorders achieve remission after IFN-α therapy, no studies have examined the long-term mood effects of IFN-α treatment. We conducted a 12-year population-based cohort study of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients who were older than 20 years and had received IFN-α therapy. The sample was obtained from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The cohort included patients with and without IFN-α-induced depression, matched randomly by age, sex and depression history, at a ratio of 1:10. The follow-up started after the last administration of IFN-α and was designed to determine the incidence of recurrent depressive disorder after IFN-α therapy. A total of 156 subjects were identified as having IFN-α-induced depression and achieving full remission after IFN-α therapy. The overall incidence of recurrent depressive disorders among patients with and without IFN-α-induced depression was 56.8 (95% confidence interval (CI), 42.4-76.1) and 4.1 (95% CI, 2.9-5.8) cases, respectively, per 100 000 person-years, P<0.001. The adjusted hazard ratios for recurrent depressive disorder were 13.5 (95% CI, 9.9-18.3) in the IFN-α-treated cohort and 22.2 (95% CI, 11.2-44.2) in the matched cohort for IFN-α-induced depression patients after adjusting for age, sex, income, urbanization and comorbid diseases. IFN-α-induced depression was associated with a high risk of recurrent depression. It was not a transient disease and might be considered an episode of depressive disorder. Continuation therapy might be considered, and further research is needed.
Department of Psychiatry, Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|School of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan.
W-C
WC
Chiu
Department of Psychiatry, Cathay General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|School of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Y-P
YP
Su
Graduate Institute of Neural and Cognitive Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.|Department of Psychiatry and Mind-Body Interface Laboratory, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
K-P
KP
Su
Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, National Taiwan University College of Public Health, Taipei, Taiwan.|Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine and Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|Department of Public Health, National Taiwan University College of Public Health, Taipei, Taiwan.
P-C
PC
Chen
D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012008:Recurrence; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D016898:Interferon-alpha