Hepatitis C Infection And Related Factors In Hemodialysis Patients In China-systematic Review And Meta-analysis

Background and Aims: To provide a comprehensive and reliable tabulation of available data on the epidemiological characteristics and risk factors for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in maintenance hemodialysis (HD) patients in China and help to inform prevention programs and guide future research.Methods: A systematic review was constructed based on the computerized literature database by two reviewers independently. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals (CI) of infection rates were calculated using the approximate normal distribution model. Odds ratios and 95% CI were calculated by fixed or random effects models.Results: Forty-three studies met our inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of HCV infection among HD patients in China was 41.1% (95% CI 39.5%–42.6%). No significant difference was found in HCV infection rates between male and female HD patients (OR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.52–1.07, P = 0.11). HD patients with blood transfusion were 5.65 times more likely to be infected with HCV than HD patients with non-blood transfusion. A longer duration of HD was associated with increased HCV prevalence. Co-infection with hepatitis B virus did not increase the probability of HCV infection among HD patients (OR =1.19, 95% CI 0.34–3.20, P=0.73).Conclusions: Viral hepatitis is still the one of main complications in HD patients, with hepatitis C being the most common one. The key to reducing the incidence of viral hepatitis in HD patients is to control contagion and reduce the frequency of blood transfusion and cross-infection. Backgrounds and aims: The aim of the study was to investigate the possible influence of a 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) polymorphism of the IL12B gene in susceptibility to HCV infection in maintenance hemodialysis patients in China.Methods: We determined the IL12B 1188A/C genotypes in a sample of 475 hemodialysis patients, who were categorized into HCV serologically positive group and HCV serologically negative group. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method.Results: There were significant differences in duration of dialysis and infusion history between the two different cohorts. The IL12B 3'UTR C/A genotype was significantly increase among HCV seronegative group when compared to HCV seropositive group (44.60% versus 29.27%; P=0.004; OR=0.49; CI=0.30-0.80). The frequency of the CA/CC genotype was increased significantly in HCV seronegative group when compared to HCV seropositive group (63.92% versus 52.85%; P=0.025; OR=0.61; CI=0.40-0.94).Conclusions: These data suggest that the C/A heterozygote of IL12B gene could render genetic protection against the infection of HCV in hemodialysis patients in Chinese population.