The sample of 277 patients was predominantly made up of males (56.7%), presented a mean age of 51.3 years (standard

deviation [SD]: 7.7), and a mean duration of chronic HCV diagnosis of 6.4 years (SD: 3.7). Thirty-four check details percent of the patients had been infected through blood transfusion, and of those who acquired HCV sharing syringes, 69% did so to use vitamin complex injections. Almost 75% of the sample had acquired genotype 1 HCV, and 81.5% had been treated with pegylated IFN-α. The most common co-occurring diseases were systemic arterial hypertension (32.1%), diabetes mellitus (17%), and hepatic cirrhosis (15.9%). Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of the individuals who met criteria for a major depressive episode during the course of IFN-α therapy. The level of fibrosis revealed by the hepatic biopsy was the only variable associated with the diagnosis of IFN-α-related depression (p = 0.03). Regarding psychiatric features, MINI indicated that 21.3% of

the sample met criteria for a major depressive episode during the course of IFN-α therapy, 10.1% met criteria for lifetime major depressive episode with no relation to IFN-α exposure, and 4.7% of the patients were depressed at the time of the evaluation. The mean current scores of Compound C mw BDI and HADS were, respectively, 11.2 ± 10.0, and 11.4 ± 7.7. Approximately 18% of the patients referred to a current or past psychiatric treatment, 17.7% fulfilled criteria for lifetime anxiety disorder, and 35.7% for lifetime substance abuse or dependence. Table 2 summarizes the data concerning the psychiatric disorders detected, personal and family psychiatric history, and the psychometric measures in the groups of individuals with and without IFN-α-related depression. Current major depression and/or current anxiety disorder was significantly associated with IFN-α-related depression (p < 0.005). However, lifetime major depression non-related to IFN-α and lifetime substance use disorders showed no association with IFN-α-related depression

(p > 0.05). The current anxiety disorders associated with the diagnosis of IFN-α-related depression were generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) (p = 0.03), and specific phobia (p = 0.003). The only past anxiety disorder with a statistically significant correlation was panic disorder (p = 0.04) although only 2 patients presented Chlormezanone with this diagnosis. The observed genotype frequencies for the rs3824259; rs10089084 and rs35099072 SNPs were demonstrated in Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium in our sample (p > 0.05). Based on the genotypic data of the 35 AIMs, for the sample as a whole, the STRUCTURE 2.1 program estimated the mean ancestry proportions of the individuals to be: 53.5 ± 19.3% European, 29.1 ± 18.8% West-African, and 17.3 ± 10.9% Native American. The ancestry proportions did not differ between groups of patients with and without IFN-α-related depression (p > 0.05).