Rowan PJ, Bhulani N. Psychosocial assessment and monitoring in the new era of non-interferon-alpha hepatitis C virus treatments. World J Hepatol 2015; 7(19): 2209-2213 [PMID: 26380046 DOI: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i19.2209]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Paul J Rowan, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, University of Texas School of Public Health, 1200 Herman Pressler E303, Houston, TX 77030, United States. paul.j.rowan@uth.tmc.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Infectious Diseases
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Hepatol. Sep 8, 2015; 7(19): 2209-2213 Published online Sep 8, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i19.2209
Psychosocial assessment and monitoring in the new era of non-interferon-alpha hepatitis C virus treatments
Paul J Rowan, Nizar Bhulani
Paul J Rowan, Nizar Bhulani, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Author contributions: Rowan PJ conceived the study plan, identified data sources, analyzed data, drafted the manuscript, and approved the final version; Bhulani N sought and identified relevant data for analysis per plan, contributed to analysis of data, contributed to drafting the manuscript, and approved the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Paul J Rowan, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, University of Texas School of Public Health, 1200 Herman Pressler E303, Houston, TX 77030, United States. paul.j.rowan@uth.tmc.edu
Telephone: +1-713-5009183 Fax: +1-713-5009171
Received: June 30, 2015 Peer-review started: July 5, 2015 First decision: July 31, 2015 Revised: August 7, 2015 Accepted: August 30, 2015 Article in press: August 31, 2015 Published online: September 8, 2015 Processing time: 71 Days and 13 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: The recently Food and Drug Administration approved direct-acting antiviral regimens for hepatitis C virus (HCV), ledipasvir/sofosbuvir regimen and the ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir and dasabuvir regimen, have demonstrated great efficacy, and thus far seem to have short treatment timelines and relatively benign side effect profiles. Depression has not emerged as a side effect of these treatments. With efficacious regimens that include no interferon-alpha and no ribavirin, there may no longer be a need for strong psychosocial assessment and monitoring built into the routine of HCV treatment. Good history-taking, strong pharmaceutical review, and reliable consultative relationships should be adequate for meeting psychosocial needs in HCV treatment.
