AIM:To investigate the occurrence and severity of pruritus in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with or without interferon(IFN)therapy.METHODS:A total of 89 patients with chronic hepatitis C and 55 control(non-hepatitis)patients were asked to rate their experience of diurnal and nocturnal pruritus in the preceding week using a visual analogue scale(VAS)and a five-point scale,respectively.Blood samples were taken and serum thymus and activationregulated chemokine(TARC)levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.RESULTS:A significantly greater proportion of chronic hepatitis C patients experienced nocturnal pruritus compared with control(58.4%vs 5.5%,P<0.0001).Chronic hepatitis C patients also had more severe pruritus compared with control patients,indicated by the higher mean VAS scores in both the IFN-treated and non-IFN-treated groups.In particular,patients who received combined peginterferon alfa-2b and ribavirin had significantly higher mean VAS scores than those receiving peginterferon alfa-2a or no IFN treatment.SerumTARC levels did not correlate with pruritus scores,and no significant differences in TARC levels were observed between the IFN-treated and non-IFN-treated groups.CONCLUSION:Patients with chronic hepatitis C experience pruritus more than those without.Serum TARC levels do not correlate with pruritus severity in chronic hepatitis C patients. AIM: To investigate the occurrence and severity of pruritus in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with or without interferon (IFN) therapy. METHODS: A total of 89 patients with chronic hepatitis C and 55 control (non-hepatitis) patients were asked to rate their experience of diurnal and nocturnal pruritus in the preceding week using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and a five-point scale, respectively. Blood samples were taken and serum thymus and activationregulated chemokine (TARC) levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: A significantly greater proportion of chronic hepatitis C patients experienced nocturnal pruritus compared with control (58.4% vs 5.5%, P <0.0001) .Chronic hepatitis C patients also had more severe pruritus compared with control patients, indicated by the higher mean VAS scores in both the IFN-treated and non-IFN-treated groups. In particular, patients who received combined peginterferon alfa-2b and ribavirin had significantly higher mean VAS scores than those re SerumTARC levels did not correlate with pruritus scores, and no significant differences in TARC levels were observed between the IFN-treated and non-IFN-treated groups. CONCLUSION: Patients with chronic hepatitis C experience pruritus more than those without. Serum TARC levels do not correlate with pruritus severity in chronic hepatitis C patients.