Hepatitis C and Depression: Strategies for Detection, Treatment, and Prevention
Compass Points
Premiere Date: Tuesday, August 20, 2013This activity offers CE credit for:
- Physicians (CME)
- Other
All other clinicians will receive a Certificate of Attendance stating this activity was certified for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
Credit Expiration Date:
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Note: Credit Is No Longer Available
 | Monique Johnson, MD, CCMEP Medical Program Director CME Outfitters, LLC Bethesda, MD |
A new era has dawned in the treatment of chronic HCV infection, with the use of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medications. The DAA medications are now used as adjunctive agents with dual peginterferon and ribavirin therapy for patients with HCV genotype 1. They have been proven to offer improved sustained virologic response rates and shorter treatment duration for many patients who have HCV infection.
Unfortunately, the potentially significant improvement of HCV outcomes may not be realized if antiviral treatment is not expanded to include a larger proportion of patients with chronic HCV infection—and one reason that antiviral therapy may not be used appropriately in certain individuals with HCV infection is that there is clinical confusion about HCV-related mood disturbances. Depression, a relatively common mood disturbance in the population of individuals with HCV infection, affects to 60% of these infected individuals. These symptoms can be exacerbated by certain antiviral therapies and result in patient discontinuation of therapy, thus increasing the risk of virologic failure.
This Compass Points™ article provides an overview of HCV-related depression, including its potential causes and evidence-based strategies for its prevention, diagnosis, and management.
To educate clinicians on the evidence-based-recommended strategies for recognition, evaluation, and management of hepatitis C-related depression.
At the end of this CE activity, participants should be able to:
- Describe the effects of depression on treatment outcomes in patients with hepatitis C virus infection.
- Employ evidence-based screening, prevention, and treatment strategies for depression in patients with hepatitis C virus infection.
This activity is supported by CME Outfitters, LLC.
Physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and other health care professionals with an interest in mood disorders.
CME Credit (Physicians):
CME Outfitters, LLC, is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
CME Outfitters, LLC, designates this enduring material for a maximum of .5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Post-tests, credit request forms, and activity evaluations must be completed online at www.cmeoutfitters.com/TST815 (requires free account activation), and participants can print their certificate or statement of credit immediately (80% pass rate required). This website supports all browsers except Internet Explorer for Mac. For complete technical requirements and privacy policy, visit www.neurosciencecme.com/technical.asp.
Disclosure Declaration
It is the policy of CME Outfitters, LLC, to ensure independence, balance, objectivity, and scientific rigor and integrity in all of their CE activities. Faculty must disclose to the participants any relationships with commercial companies whose products or devices may be mentioned in faculty presentations, or with the commercial supporter of this CE activity. CME Outfitters, LLC, has evaluated, identified, and attempted to resolve any potential conflicts of interest through a rigorous content validation procedure, use of evidence-based data/research, and a multidisciplinary peer review process. The following information is for participant information only. It is not assumed that these relationships will have a negative impact on the presentations.
Dr. Johnson has no disclosures to report.
Tony Graham, MD, (peer/content reviewer) has no disclosures to report.
Joy Bartnett Leffler, MLA, NASW, CSE (planning committee) has no disclosures to report.
Sandra Haas Binford, MAEd (planning committee) has no disclosures to report.
Sharon Tordoff, CCMEP (planning committee) has no disclosures to report.
Unlabeled Use Disclosure
Faculty of this CE activity may include discussions of products or devices that are not currently labeled for use by the FDA. The faculty have been informed of their responsibility to disclose to the audience if they will be discussing off-label or investigational uses (any uses not approved by the FDA) of products or devices.
CME Outfitters, LLC, and the faculty do not endorse the use of any product outside of the FDA labeled indications. Medical professionals should not utilize the procedures, products, or diagnosis techniques discussed during this activity without evaluation of their patient for contraindications or dangers of use.
Questions about this activity? Call us at 877.CME.PROS (877.263.7767).
CC-054-082013-00
