Effect of Anti-HCV Positivity on Markers of Malnutrition and Inflammation in Hemodialysis Patients

Aim. To investigate the influence of anti-HCV positivity on markers of malnutrition and inflammation in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods. Stable HD patients who had persistently negative or positive HCV antibodies (at least three) and without elevated aminotransferase levels in routine periodical tests with a duration of more than 12 months were included. Patients with conditions known to be associated with acute-phase responses or clinically active (HCV RNA positive) or advanced liver failure were excluded. Thirty-six anti-HCV-positive patients (22 male, 14 female, mean age 47.3 ± 14.5 years, mean time on HD 72.0 ± 39.0 months), were compared with 36 anti-HCV negative patients with similar age and HD duration (25 male, 11 female, mean age 49.2 ± 13.8 years, mean time on HD 59.7 ± 27.1 months). Malnutrition-Inflammation Score (MIS), a fully quantitative score adopted from subjective global assessment, was recorded for each patient (ranges from 0 to 30). High sensitivity serum C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and hematocrit-corrected ESR were compared as indices of the degree of inflammation beyond anthropometric evaluation and routine laboratory tests. Results. There was no significant difference in MIS of two groups (6.1 ± 3.2 vs. 5.6 ± 3.2, p> 0.05). In the comparison of components of MIS, co-morbidity including number of years on dialysis was higher in anti-HCV-positive patients (p = 0.04). Anthropometric values and serum levels of hs-CRP, IL-6, ESR, and hematocrit-corrected ESR of two groups were not statistically different from each other (p> 0.05 for all). ALT (p = 0.0001) and AST (p = 0.001) levels were higher in anti-HCV-positive patients. Conclusion. Anti-HCV positivity without active infection seems to have no additional negative effect on malnutrition and inflammation in maintenance HD patients.