Hepatitis C virus status in hemodialysis patients in Menoufia Government, Egypt, five years apart: Do we have any improvement?

There is a high prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in hemodialysis (HD) patients in Menoufia Governorate, Egypt. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess current HCV status and its seroconversion in HD patients after implementing preventative measures to limit transmission of HCV. All data were compared with our previous data collected in 2011 before implementation of isolation policy. There was a significant decrease in HCV infection in HD patients from 49.6% in year 2011 to 41.9% in year 2016 (P = 0.001). The seroconversion rate was significantly reduced from 14.5% in year 2011 to 4.9% in year 2016 (P = 0.001). Age, gender, body mass index, hemoglobin, and calcium did not show any significant difference whereas blood transfusion, serum phosphate, and urea reduction ratio showed a significant difference with much improvement in year 2016. When comparing seroconversion group with HCV-negative patients, blood transfusion did not show significant difference whereas seroconverted group showed significantly longer duration of dialysis (94.94 ± 82.87 months vs. 38.21 ± 31.55 months). Same result was obtained in year 2011; however, when all data analyzed the duration of dialysis and blood transfusion were higher significantly in seroconverted group. Binary logistic regression analysis for all data demonstrated that isolation reduced the likelihood of seroconversion while longer duration of dialysis increased the risk for seroconversion. HCV infection and its seroconversion in HD patients were significantly reduced in year 2016 compared to year 2011. Isolation policy is recommended for HD patients with HCV in dialysis units with high HCV prevalence in developing countries.