Prevalence and Risk Factors of Hepatitis C Virus Infection among Chronic Hemodialysis Patients in a Tertiary Dialysis Center Download PDF

Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the most important concerns in hemodialysis patients globally. The range of infection prevalence in these patients is reported from 3% to 76% in different parts of the world. Hence, this study was aimed to determine the prevalence of HCV infection and its risk factors among chronic hemodialysis patients who were admitted to Amol dialysis center. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted by using available data and census method on all chronic hemodialysis patients in Amol dialysis center, Amol city, during 2012–2016. Patient’s information compliance with ethical aspects was extracted from their medical records including age, gender, duration of dialysis, the frequency of dialysis per week, history of blood transfusion, history of renal transplant, and anti-HCV antibody titer. Data were analyzed using MS Excel 2016 and SPSS 16 software. Results: Of all the 162 patients, 86 (53%) cases were females, and 76 (47%) were males with a mean age of 60.6± 14.1 years. Positive anti-HCV was observed in 4 (2.4%) of them. Although a significant relationship was observed between the duration of hemodialysis and HCV infection (P = 0.001), we did not observe any correlation between gender, age, the number of dialysis per week, history of blood transfusion, and renal transplantation with the development of HCV infection. Conclusion: Our findings indicate a significant reduction in the prevalence of HCV among hemodialysis patients in Amol center compared to previous years, which seems to be one of the main reasons for this decrease in the use of erythropoietin instead of blood transfusion. The major risk factor for developing an infection in this center is related to the duration of hemodialysis.