Epidemiology update for hepatitis C virus and hepatitis B virus in end‐stage renal disease in France

Background & aims Risk for HCV/HBV infection is increased in end‐stage renal disease patients. We generate updated epidemiological data. Methods Based on the National French registry for end‐stage renal disease patients, we extracted data for patients who started dialysis or pre‐emptive transplantation between January 2005 and December 2013. A positive serum HBs Ag and/or a positive HCV RNA defined HBV and HCV infections, respectively. Results In all, 72 948 patients were included among which 62.5% were men. At inclusion, 615 patients were HBV+ and 1026 HCV+. The prevalence of HBV and HCV infections were 0.84% (95% PI: 0.78–0.91) and 1.41% (95% PI: 1.32–1.49), respectively. The prevalence of HBV infection by age group increased progressively until a maximum rate at 1.80% (95% PI: 1.46–2.20) in the 4th decade, then regularly decreased. Same profile was observed for HCV prevalence, with a maximum rate at 3.14% (95% PI: 2.68–3.65) in the 4th decade. During the follow‐up, we identified new HBV or HCV infections in 117 and 81 patients, respectively, with an overall incidence of 0.076% (95% PI: 0.062–0.090) and 0.053% (95%PI: 0.041–0.065) between 2005 and 2013, respectively. During the first dialysis year, HBV incidence was 0.35% (95% PI: 0.28–0.43) and that of HCV 0.21% (95% PI: 0.16–0.28). Conclusion Our data highlight the need for HCV therapy for more than 1000 end‐stage renal disease patients in France, sustained systematic immunization campaigns (HBV) and underlines the persistence of HBV/HCV new hand‐borne nosocomial cases. See Editorial on Page 815