Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most common cause of chronic liver disease of infectious etiology in children. This study aims to compare cognitive impairment, and psychological status of treatment-naïve HCV children with control group. Treatment-naïve children with HCV and an equal control group of children of matched age and gender were recruited. Assessment included measures of children's cognitive functioning, behavior, depression and anxiety as well as laboratory investigations and liver biopsy. Overall 102 children of both genders were recruited; the majority was from rural areas and from middle social class. Their age ranged from 7 to 17 years old. Only 6.9% reported positive family history of Psychiatric disorders while 35.3% reported current Psychiatric disorder. The most frequent diagnosis in the sample was depression (16.7%). Depression scores correlated negatively with liver biopsy activity (p = 0.024) and positively with WBCS (p = 0.0024). Anxiety scores correlated positively with WBCS (p = 0.017). Verbal IQ, performance IQ and total IQ correlated with the social class and with the liver biopsy activity. Also it was found that higher depression scores can predict lower verbal IQ. Depression, social class and liver Inflammation are predictors of cognitive impairment in children with HCV.

中文翻译：

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慢性丙型肝炎病毒患儿的认知障碍：病例对照研究

丙型肝炎病毒 (HCV) 感染是儿童感染性慢性肝病的最常见原因。本研究旨在比较未接受过治疗的 HCV 儿童与对照组的认知障碍和心理状态。招募了未经治疗的 HCV 儿童和年龄和性别相匹配的儿童的平等对照组。评估包括测量儿童的认知功能、行为、抑郁和焦虑以及实验室检查和肝活检。总共招募了 102 名男女儿童；大多数来自农村地区和社会中产阶级。他们的年龄从7岁到17岁不等。只有 6.9% 的人报告了精神疾病的阳性家族史，而 35.3% 的人报告了当前的精神疾病。样本中最常见的诊断是抑郁症 (16. 7%）。抑郁评分与肝活检活动呈负相关 (p = 0.024)，与 WBCS 呈正相关 (p = 0.0024)。焦虑评分与 WBCS 呈正相关（p = 0.017）。言语智商、行为智商和总智商与社会阶层和肝活检活动相关。还发现较高的抑郁分数可以预测较低的语言智商。抑郁、社会阶层和肝脏炎症是 HCV 儿童认知障碍的预测因素。