Nephrol Dial Transplant (2004) 19: 904-909
Nephrol Dial Transplant Vol. 19 No. 4 © ERA-EDTA 2004; all rights reserved
Original Article
The changing epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in haemodialysis: European multicentre study
Departments of Nephrology, 1Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, 2Centre Médical E. Rist, Paris, France, 3Western Infirmary, Glasgow, UK, 4A. Manzoni Hospital, Lecco, Italy, 5Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, 6Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland, 7Hospital de la Princesa, Madrid, Spain, 8Klinikum der Goethe Universität, Frankfurt, Germany, 9Szent-Györgyi Medical University, Szeged, Hungary and 10Department of Virology, Cliniques St. Luc, Brussels, Belgium
Correspondence and offprint requests to: Professor Michel Jadoul, M.D., Cliniques Universitaires St Luc, Department of Nephrology, Université catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 10, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium. Email: jadoul{at}nefr.ucl.ac.be
Background. The high prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies in HD patients has been known since the early 1990s but its evolution over the last decade is poorly documented.
Methods. All chronic HD patients from 15 Belgian units were tested at (re)start of HD and every 18 months for anti-HCV antibodies (ELISA 2 in May 1991 and November 1992, then ELISA 3 until May 2000). All chronic HD patients from HD units from eight other European countries, whose prevalence of anti-HCV (+) patients had been studied in 1991–1994 (and published except in one country), were tested for anti-HCV antibodies in 1999.
Results. Anti-HCV (+) prevalence decreased (P<0.001) from 13.5 (1991) to 6.8% (2000) in the Belgian cohort (n = 1710). Prevalence also decreased (P<0.05) in the participating units from France (42–30%), Sweden (16–9%) and Italy (28–16%), tended to decrease in the participating units from UK (7–3%, P = 0.058) and Hungary (26–15%, P = 0.057) but did not change (NS) in the participating units from Germany (7 to 6%), Spain (5 to 12%) and Poland (42 to 44%). In the Belgian cohort, the prevalence of anti-HCV(+) at (re)start of HD did not change significantly over 1991–2000.
Conclusion. The prevalence of anti-HCV(+) in HD has decreased markedly over the last decade in the participating units from most European countries. This decrease should reduce further the risk of nosocomial and occupational HCV infection in HD and ultimately contribute to improved long-term prognosis of HD patients and kidney graft recipients.
Keywords: epidemiology; haemodialysis; hepatitis C virus; prevalence, incidence
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