Conflict of interest: noneObjective: To assess the incidence rate and severity of depressive symptoms in different time points (12, 24 and 48 weeks) in Brazilian patients with HCV treated with PEG IFN plus ribavirin. Methods:We conducted an observational prospective study using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Results: Fifty patients were included. The assessments with either scale showed the highest score of depressive symptoms in the 24 th week of treatment; the mean BDI score before treatment was 6.5 ± 5.3 and the mean CES-D was 10.9 ± 7.8. After 24 weeks, the mean BDI was 16.1 ± 10.2 and mean CES-D was 18.6 ± 13.0; 46% were diagnosed with depression according to combined BDI and CES-D scores. The somatic/psychomotor subscales were highly correlated with overall scale scores . Subjects with history of substance and alcohol abuse had higher risk for IFN--induced depression. Conclusion: Treatment with PEG IFN was associated with a high incidence rate of depressive symptoms in this sample of Brazilian patients, as measured by CES-D and BDI. Alcohol and substance abuse increase the risk of PEG IFN-induced depression.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the impact of 3 treatment regimens upon health-related quality of life and work productivity using patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in chronic hepatitis C infected patients: sofosbuvir (SOF) + daclatasvir (DCV); SOF + DCV + ribavirin (RBV); SOF + simeprevir (SMV).Methods4 questionnaires were used to evaluate PROs before, during and after treatment: Short Form-36 (SF-36), Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ) - hepatitis C virus (HCV), Work Productivity and Activity Index, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F).ResultsOf the global sample of 55 patients included in this study; SOF + DCV (n = 10); SOF + DCV + RBV (n = 29); SOF + SMV (n = 16) all had a statistically significant improvement in SF-36, CLDQ and FACIT-F scores during and post-treatment. No statistically significant differences in the PRO questionnaire values were observed between the distinct treatment regimens. The SOF and SMV patient groups presented higher mean PRO variations during and post-treatment, compared to the other groups: SF-36 functional capacity (16.1); SF-36 mental health (21.4); CLDQ activity (1.8); CLDQ emotional function (1.2); FACIT-F physical well-being (8.0); Total FACIT-F (21.6).ConclusionTreatment with SOF + DCV, with or without RBV, results in an improved PRO similar to treatment with SOF + SMV in chronic hepatitis C patients.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the use of propinox hydrochloride and scopolamine hydrochloride in patients presenting abdominal colic (abdominal pain), in * Corresponding author. H. Rzetelna et al. 475 terms of treatment efficacy and tolerability. Material & Methods: This was an analytical, retrospective, comparative study based on hospital records of outpatients treated at Serviço de Clínica Médica do Hospital das Clínicas Costantino Otaviano (HCTCO) and at Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro, from 1988-1998. Subjects were divided into two groups: patients from Group 1 were treated with propinox hydrochloride, while patients from Group 2 were treated with scopolamine hydrochloride. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism version 5.0. For comparison of categorical variables, we used the chi-squared or Fisher's test, while continuous variables were analyzed using ANOVA or the Student's T test. Results: A total of 1042 subjects were included, of which 525 were allocated to Group 1 and 517 to Group 2. Mean treatment duration was 9.166 days (±4.208) in Group 1 and 8.795 days (±5.052) in Group 2, with no statistically significant difference in treatment duration between the two groups (p = 0.198). All subjects in Group 1 were treated with propinox 10 mg (2 coated tablets, three times per day) while all subjects in Group 2 were treated with scopolamine hydrochloride 10 mg (2 coated tablets, three times per day). There were no statistically significant between-group differences in weight, BMI, heart rate, and respiratory rate at pre-and post-treatment; with the exception of higher post-treatment systolic blood pressure in Group 1, blood pressure measures also remained homogenous. Adverse events were reported among both treatment groups with no significant between-group difference in incidence (p = 0566). At pretreatment, pain intensity was more severe in Group 1 (p = 0.0257), while at post-treatment, there was no statistically significant difference between the two treatment groups (p = 0.895). There was a statistically significant improvement in pain intensity within both treatment groups (χ 2 = 631.4; df = 3; p < 0.0001 for Group 1 and χ 2 = 554.3; df = 3; p < 0.0001 for Group 2). Conclusion: The results obtained in this study indicate a therapeutic equivalence between propinox hydrochloride and scopolamine hydrochloride. Both treatments demonstrated good efficacy and tolerability in the treatment of abdominal colic pain, in the population evaluated.