Depression among Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B: A Cross-sectional Study in a Tertiary Hospital of Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic hepatitis B suffer not only from physical illness. Rather, they often present with the mental health consequences of this chronic disease.

OBJECTIVE: The major objective was to assess the level of depression among patients having chronic hepatitis B.

METHOD: The Department of Hepatology of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University directed this study which was a comparative cross-sectional study during time duration from September 2021 to September 2022. Incidence and grading of depression between patients with chronic hepatitis B and HBsAg negative healthy volunteers were assessed and compared through this study. The association of different variables with depression among chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients was also measured.

RESULTS: Out of 90 patients having chronic hepatitis B, 52 (57.8%) were found to have some degree of depression; whereas among 90 HBsAg-negative healthy controls, 32 (35.6%) were found to have various degrees of depression. The dissimilarity between the two groups was significantly determined ( p -value < 0.05). The majority of the depressed population from both groups had mild degrees of depression, however, the variance was not top the notch ( p -value > 0.05). But the prevalence of moderate depression and moderately severe depression was statistically significant among CHB patients compared to their counterpart controls. Depression among CHB patients was found to be female-predominant.

CONCLUSION: The study has shown a higher prevalence of depression among patients with chronic hepatitis B compared to HBsAg-negative healthy controls.

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Rahman M, Noor-E-Alam SM, Rahim MA, et al . Depression among Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B: A Cross-sectional Study in a Tertiary Hospital of Bangladesh. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2023;13(2):79-83.