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. 2025 Apr;32(4):e14033.
doi: 10.1111/jvh.14033. Epub 2024 Nov 6.

Long-Term Follow-Up of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms After Sustained Virological Response to Interferon-Free and Interferon-Based Hepatitis C Virus Treatment

Meike Dirks  1 , Ann-Katrin Hennemann  1 , Gerrit M Grosse  1 , Anika Beer  1 , Henning Pflugrad  1 , Kim Haag  1 , Ramona Schuppner  1 , Katja Deterding  2 , Markus Cornberg  2   3 , Heiner Wedemeyer  2 , Karin Weissenborn  1
Affiliations

Long-Term Follow-Up of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms After Sustained Virological Response to Interferon-Free and Interferon-Based Hepatitis C Virus Treatment

Meike Dirks et al. J Viral Hepat. 2025 Apr.

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can be associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms like fatigue and cognitive impairment, independent of the liver status. The present study aims to assess changes in the pattern and extent of neuropsychological symptoms after successful treatment with interferon (IFN)-based and IFN-free therapy. HCV-infected patients who underwent neuropsychological assessment in previous studies were invited to a follow-up examination. Patients were grouped according to the treatment status: Sustained virological response (SVR) after IFN treatment (IFN SVR, n = 14) or after therapy with direct acting antivirals (DAA SVR, n = 28) or ongoing HCV infection (HCV RNA+, n = 11). A group of 33 healthy controls served as reference. Patients completed self-report questionnaires addressing health-related quality of life (HRQoL), mood and sleep quality and a neuropsychological test battery including tests of memory and attention (Luria's list of words, PSE test, cancelling "d" test, Word-Figure-Memory Test and computer-based test battery for the assessment of attention [TAP]). At baseline, all three patient groups had worse fatigue, depression, anxiety and HRQoL scores compared to healthy controls. Longitudinal analysis revealed that fatigue and mood slightly improved in all patient groups over time, while HRQoL improved in SVR patients but not in HCV RNA+ patients. Memory test results improved significantly in all patient groups, irrespective of their virological status. In contrast, the attention test results showed no clear change from baseline to follow-up. Our data can be considered as a hint that HCV eradication-independent of therapy regimen-does not substantially ameliorate neuropsychiatric symptoms in HCV-afflicted patients.

Keywords: follow‐up; hepatitis C virus; neuropsychiatric symptoms; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
(A) Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS) results in each patient group for baseline (BL) and follow‐up (FU). Median results are marked with red dots. (B) SF‐36 sumscore in each patient group for baseline (BL) and follow‐up (FU). Median results are marked with red dots.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Word–Figure–Memory Test, change of the z‐score for words between baseline BL (=0) and follow‐up (FU).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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