ABSTRACT
This study assessed the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among hepatitis C patients at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Medical records of 306 randomly selected hepatitis C-positive patients were reviewed for past and present DSM-IV-based psychiatric disorders. Each psychiatric diagnosis was independently confirmed with DSM-IV criteria using symptoms recorded in the chart. Only independently confirmed diagnoses were included for analysis. Mood disorders were present in 38% of patients; personality disorders in 30%; PTSD in 19%; other anxiety disorders in 9%; and psychotic disorders in 17%. Although alcohol use disorders were found in 86% of this patient population, intravenous drug use disorders were present in only 28%. Our data indicate that prevalence rates of a variety of psychiatric disorders are higher in veterans with hepatitis C than in the general population. Mood, anxiety, personality, and psychotic disorders were all relatively common in these patients. Psychiatric disorders may influence the course and treatment of hepatitis C infection, and psychiatrists as well as internists should be aware of the substantial psychiatric comorbidity in patients with this infection.
Subject(s)
Hepatitis C Antibodies/blood , Hepatitis C/psychology , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Mental Disorders/virology , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Comorbidity , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Female , Hepatitis C/epidemiology , Hepatitis C/virology , Hospitals, Veterans , Humans , Male , Mental Disorders/blood , Middle Aged , Prevalence , Retrospective Studies , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Tardive dyskinesia (TD) continues to be a significant health problem and a serious limitation to neuroleptic medication treatment. Clozapine treatment may reduce the severity of TD but it is unclear wether the medication temporarily suppresses symptoms or leads to a sustain resolution of the disorder. Herein we describe two cases with severe TD which clozapine had to be discontinued. These cases suggest that clozapine provides a temporary suppression of TD rather than a permanent resolution of the disorder.