A Preliminary Study on the Relationship between Platelet Serotonin Transporter Functionality, Depression, and Fatigue in Patients with Untreated Chronic Hepatitis C

Table 1

Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with chronic HCV.

	All patients; 𝑛=65	Major/minor depression; 𝑛=12	Nondepressed; 𝑛=53	𝜒^2 test; Mann-Whitney 𝑈-test; depressed versus nondepressed
Male/female	29/36	7/5	22/31
Age (years)	46.2±11.9	48.3±11.7	46.1±11.6
BMI (kg/m²)	24.8±3.3	26.2±4.5	24.8±3.3	𝜒^2=3.340, 𝑃=0.093
Overweight (>25), % (𝑛)	44.6% (29)	66.7%  (8)	39.6 (21)
Smokers, % (𝑛)	42.8% (26)	50% (6)	41.5% (22)
HCV mRNA ( log IU/mL)	6.25±0.59	6.24±0.51	6.25±0.62
Low <600 000 IU/mL, % (𝑛)	24.6% (15/61)	16.7% (2)	26.5% (13/49)
Genotype 1, %	84.4%	75%	86.5%
Genotypes 2, 3, or 4, %	15.6%	25%	13.5%
Leukocyte count (×10^9/L)	5.95±1.79	𝟕.𝟏𝟓±𝟐.𝟐𝟏	5.69±1.60	𝑍=−2.082, 𝑃=0.037
	𝑛=61	𝑛=11	𝑁=50
Platelet count (×10^9/L)	209±76	𝟏𝟓𝟐±𝟔𝟐	223±73	𝑧=−2.821, 𝑃=0.006
Thrombocytopenia, % (𝑛)	26.2% (17)	58.3% (7)	18.5% (10)	𝜒^2=8.139, 𝑃=0.004
Hypertonia, % (𝑛)	29.2% (19)	33.3% (4)	28.3% (15)
Diabetes mellitus, % (𝑛)	7.7% (5)	25.0% (3)	3.8% (2)	𝜒^2=6.209, 𝑃=0.013
Therapy-naïve, % (𝑛)	60% (39)	66.7% (8)	58.5% (31)
Past drug/alcohol use, % (𝑛)	27.7% (19)	33.3% (4)	28.3% (15)
Past episodes of depressive symptoms, % (𝑛)	16.9% (11)	33.3% (4)	13.2% (7)	𝜒^2=−2.819, 𝑃=0.093
Beck Depression Inventory
Total score	6.3±7.6	18.3±6.6	3.6±4.1	All measures significantly different at the 𝑃<0.001 level
Emotional/cognitive	3.0±4.8	11.1±5.6	1.3±2.4
Somatic/vegetative	3.1±3.2	7.2±2.3	2.3±2.3
Brief Symptom Inventory
Depression	51.3±12.4	70.2±9.4	46.6±7.6	All measures significantly different at the 𝑃<0.001 level
Anxiety	50.7±13.3	66.5±11.2	46.8±10.7
Anger-Hostility	55.6±12.2	68.4±10.0	52.4±10.6
Global severity index	47.0±17.3	70.8±11.8	41.7±13.3
Brief Fatigue Inventory
Total mean	2.5±2.1	5.4±1.9	1.9±1.6	Three measures significantly different at the 𝑃<0.001 level; 𝑧=−2.248, 𝑃=0.025
Interference score	2.1±2.2	5.1±2.2	1.4±1.1
Intensity score (3 items)	3.4±2.5	5.9±2.0	2.8±2.2
fatigue at its worst	4.6±3.1	6.5±2.6	4.1±3.1

Note: values for continuous variables are expressed as mean ± SD.