Abstract
Objectives1) to assess the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in a population of acute psychiatric in-patients; 2) to find out relationships between HCV comorbidity and clinical features of psychiatric patients.MethodsProspective observational study in a 6-year period.Results2396 cases (1492 patients) were admitted in the considered period. Forty-two patients (2.8%) were affected by HCV infection. HCV infection was more frequent in patients with less years of education, lower social class, lower last year best Global Assessment of Functioning score, more hostile or violent behavior in hospital, with a lifetime history of previous suicide attempt, and with substance-related disorders.ConclusionHCV infection in psychiatric patients constitutes a major threat to the health of psychiatric patients and is related with unfavorable social background, worse global functioning, hostile or violent behavior, substance-related disorders. It appears also to be a significant risk of suicidal behavior.
Highlights
Patients with comorbid conditions probably represent majority of subjects affected by mood disorders or schizophrenia [1]
Between patients with and without HCV infection, there was no significant difference in length of hospitalization, age at the onset of the disorder, in the scores of current Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) total, Clinical Global Impression (CGI)
We have no reason to suspect that these patients were different from those whose history of previous suicide attempts was assessed
Summary
Patients with comorbid conditions probably represent majority of subjects affected by mood disorders or schizophrenia [1]. Comorbid medical diseases may cause or worsen psychiatric disorders and have a major impact on the medical treatment of patients [2,3,4]. 50% of medical comorbid diseases are not diagnosed in chronic psychiatric outpatients [5]. In psychiatric in-patients, medical diseases are often not diagnosed [6]. Psychosis may impair the patient's capacity to recognize or describe emerging medical illness. Psychiatric patients often receive inadequate care [1]. Some authors have attributed these poor health outcomes to clients' lack of regular medical care [712]
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