CATIE News – Sleep disturbances and hepatitis C virus

CATIE LogoHepatitis C virus (HCV) infects the liver and injures this organ. If HCV is left untreated, over time this virus continues to injure the liver, causing inflammation and the replacement of healthy, functional liver tissue with scar tissue. In chronic HCV infection, the liver gradually becomes dysfunctional, complications occur and the risk of developing liver cancer increases.

One of the many complications that can arise from chronic HCV infection is disturbed sleep. Liver and brain researchers in Hannover, Germany, have collaborated to study sleep-related issues in people with HCV. Their work adds to the growing body of evidence that poor-quality sleep may occur in some people with HCV infection. Furthermore, it appears that sleep-related problems may be, at least in some cases, the source of fatigue that is reported by many people with HCV. What is novel about the German research is that sleep-related problems were detected despite the absence of severe liver injury.

 

Study details
Researchers analysed data from the following participants:

  • 20 HCV antibody positive (suggesting past infection) women, 12 of whom had detectable HCV genetic material (RNA) in their blood, indicating ongoing infection
  • 19 healthy and HCV-negative women

All participants were in their mid-50s and had been exposed to HCV several decades ago, before routine screening of the blood supply for viral infections was done.

According to the study researchers, none of the participants had any of the following conditions or factors that could have affected their sleep:

  • HIV co-infection
  • severe liver injury (cirrhosis)
  • a “history of neurological or psychiatric disease”
  • a history of injecting street drugs
  • engaged in shift work
  • used medicines that can affect sleep, including opioids, anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressants and interferon

 

The women underwent extensive evaluations, via medical surveys, of their health, in particular the following issues:

  • sleep quality
  • daytime sleepiness
  • fatigue
  • depression
  • anxiety

Participants also had a small device strapped to their wrist that recorded their activity over five days.

 

Results
Women with a history of HCV compared to women without past exposure to HCV were significantly more likely to have the following:

  • fatigue
  • poor sleep quality
  • daytime sleepiness
  • reduced health-related quality of life

Researchers found that women with a history of HCV were more likely to have anxiety and/or depression compared to women without this history.

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