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Psychosocial Stress, Personality, and the Severity of Chronic Hepatitis C

Received Nov. 23, 2002; revision received April 14, 2003; accepted April 28, 2003. From the Institute of Health Science, the Health Care Administration and Management Division, and the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University; and the Department of Internal Medicine, Fukuoka-Higashi National Hospital, Japan. Address reprint requests to Dr. Nagano, Institute of Health Science, Kyushu University, 6-1 Kasuga Park, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan; nagano{at}ihs.kyushu-u.ac.jp (e-mail).

This cross-sectional study examined the association between the severity of chronic hepatitis C and the type 1 personality, which has been shown by Grossarth-Maticek to be strongly related to the incidence of cancer and mortality. Sixty-nine patients with chronic hepatitis C completed the Stress Inventory, a self-report questionnaire to measure psychosocial stress and personality, and were classified into three groups according to hepatitis severity: group A, chronic hepatitis C with a normal serum alanine aminotransferase level; group B, chronic hepatitis C with an elevated alanine aminotransferase level; and group C, liver cirrhosis. Each of four scales related to the type 1 personality—low sense of control, object dependence of loss, unfulfilled need for acceptance, and altruism—was significantly and positively associated with hepatitis severity. The type 1 score, calculated as the average of these scales, was also strongly related to hepatitis severity (p<0.0001), and adjustment for age, sex, education level, smoking, drinking, and duration brought no attenuation into the association. Chronic psychosocial stress relevant to the type 1 personality may also influence the course of chronic hepatitis C.

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