Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatitis C Virus in Patients Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2022-05, Vol.14 (5), p.e24794-e24794
• Main Authors: Shabbir, Usama Bin, Hassan, Wajih Ul, Raza, Ali, Hafiz, Sadia, Ansar, Hafsa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Gastroenterology; Infectious Disease; Internal Medicine
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.24794

Background Underdeveloped countries suffer a huge burden of infectious diseases, among which hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are of major concern. Our study sought to determine the seroconversion rate for HBV via hepatitis B antigen (HBsAg) and HCV via anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies (anti-HCV) among patients on maintenance hemodialysis in the dialysis unit of a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. Methodology This study was carried out from October 2020 to January 2022 at the hemodialysis unit and the urology department of a tertiary care hospital in Multan. A total of 172 patients of both genders were screened for HBV and HCV seropositivity. Data analysis was done through IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0 (Released 2017; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). Conclusions were drawn accordingly. Results At the one-year follow-up, screening revealed that 20 (11.7%) patients were positive for HBsAg and 39 (23%) were positive for anti-HCV. Five patients had dual seropositivity for HBsAg and anti-HCV, while three were positive for both HBsAg and anti-HDV. Four out of 20 patients who screened positive for HBsAg and 11 out of 39 patients screened for anti-HCV had a history of one more blood transfusion. Though the correlation between the duration of hemodialysis and viral markers was significant (p