Study of pruritus in chronic hepatitis C patients

AIM:To investigate the occurrence and severity of pruritus in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with or without interferon(IFN)therapy.METHODS:A total of 89 patients with chronic hepatitis C and 55 control(non-hepatitis)patients were asked to rate their experience of diurnal and nocturnal pruritus in the preceding week using a visual analogue scale(VAS)and a five-point scale,respectively.Blood samples were taken and serum thymus and activationregulated chemokine(TARC)levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.RESULTS:A significantly greater proportion of chronic hepatitis C patients experienced nocturnal pruritus compared with control(58.4%vs 5.5%,P<0.0001).Chronic hepatitis C patients also had more severe pruritus compared with control patients,indicated by the higher mean VAS scores in both the IFN-treated and non-IFN-treated groups.In particular,patients who received combined peginterferon alfa-2b and ribavirin had significantly higher mean VAS scores than those receiving peginterferon alfa-2a or no IFN treatment.SerumTARC levels did not correlate with pruritus scores,and no significant differences in TARC levels were observed between the IFN-treated and non-IFN-treated groups.CONCLUSION:Patients with chronic hepatitis C experience pruritus more than those without.Serum TARC levels do not correlate with pruritus severity in chronic hepatitis C patients.