Epidemiology of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in ESRD Patients in Khuzestan Province, Iran

Objective: liver disease caused by hepatitis c virus (hcv) in patients with end-stage renal disease (esrd) causes significant morbidity and mortality. the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hcv infection and its relationship in esrd patients living in the province of khuzestan, iran.material and methods: in a cross sectional study from december 2010 to march 2011, entire of esrd patients treated with hemodialysis (hd) or peritoneal dialysis (pd) in the khuzestan province enrolled for the study. a standardized questionnaire was used to collect social and demographic data including cause of esrd and date of onset of pd or hd. blood samples were tested for hepatitis c antibody (anti-hcv) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (elisa). the research center of ahvaz joundishapur university of medical sciences approved the study.136results: in overall, 1117 esrd patients were enrolled for the study. the prevalence ofanti-hcv was 3.4 % (38 patients, 20 males with mean age of 45.29 years and 18 femaleswith mean age of 45.6 years). the most common cause of esrd in anti-hcvpositive patients was high blood pressure in 45.4%, followed by, dm in 28.7%, andunknown in 13.9%. we din not find any association between both sexes (p = 0.06) andalso between mean age of anti-hcv positive and negative patients (p = 0.59). there wasa significant association between high blood pressure as cause of esrd with anti-hcvpositivity (0.033).conclusion: although, the prevalence of hcv infection among esrd patients hasdecreased in recent years, however it remains as a significant cause of viral hepatitisamong these patients in khuzestan province.