Acute and chronic inflammation in pediatric patients receiving hemodialysis

To assess chronic and acute inflammation in children receiving maintenance hemodialysis. To assess markers of acute inflammation, serum levels (ELISA) of the cytokines tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-10, and IL-6, 3 to 5 mL of serum was obtained from 13 pediatric patients (mean patient weight, 37.0±15.2 kg; mean age, 14.6±4.6 years) before and 30 minutes and 24 hours after a routine midweek hemodialysis treatment session. Chronic inflammation was assessed by serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Early-response cytokines TNF-α at 30 minutes (5.84±0.94 to 9.67±0.92 pg/mL; P=.002) and 24 hours (5.84±0.94 to 9.54±1.05 pg/mL; P=.008) and IL-1β at 30 minutes (17.19±2.00 to 26.17±1.12 pg/mL; P=.001) and 24 hours (17.19±2.00 to 23.01±1.13 pg/mL; P=.02) increased significantly after hemodialysis. Later-response cytokines IL-10 and IL-6 activation was not significant. CRP levels were elevated in 10 of 13 patients (mean, 14.7±9.5mg/L; range, 7.2-38.8 mg/L) and correlated with dialysis vintage. Baseline IL-6 and IL-10 levels correlated with dialysis vintage and correlated negatively with eqKt/V. We observed a chronic inflammatory state in pediatric hemodialysis patients not related to the hemodialysis treatment but rather dialysis vintage and hemodialysis adequacy. We suggest that either more frequent dialysis or enhanced cytokine clearance may ameliorate the chronic inflammatory state observed in pediatric patients receiving hemodialysis.