Malnutrition inflammation score is associated with coronary artery disease in hepatitis C virus-infected hemodialysis patients

Objective: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection exerts diverse effects on atherogenesis. We investigated whether malnutrition inflammation score (MIS) is associated with the presence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in anti-HCV-positive hemodialysis (HD) patients. Subjects/Methods: Twenty-two anti-HCV-positive HD patients with CAD and 61 anti-HCV-positive HD patients without CAD (as controls) were included. Data were obtained from hospital records, patients were evaluated for risk factors for CAD. The same physician performed MIS evaluation. Results: MIS of anti-HCV-positive HD patients with CAD were significantly higher than patients without CAD (8.8 +/- 4.0 vs 6.5 +/- 2.6, P = 0.02). In patients with CAD, basal (P = 0.002) and peak C-reactive protein (P = 0.03) and serum ferritin (P = 0.01) concentrations were higher, serum albumin concentrations (P = 0.003) were lower than those patients without CAD. MIS was positively correlated with age (r = +0.359, P = 0.001) and viral load (r = +0.629, P < 0.0001). In univariate logistic regression analysis, advanced age (odds ratios (OR) 1.093, confidence interval (CI): 1.039-1.150, P = 0.001), hypertension (OR = 3.143, CI: 1.084-9.116, P = 0.035), diabetes mellitus (OR 5.344, CI: 1.343-21.269, P = 0.017), low triglyceride (OR 0.992, CI: 0.984-0.999, P = 0.026) and high MIS (OR 1.259, CI: 1.066-1.488, P = 0.007) were associated with the presence of CAD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified age (OR 1.090, CI: 1.007-1.179, P = 0.033) and MIS as the factors associated with the presence of CAD (OR 1.232, CI: 1.004-1.511, P = 0.04). Conclusions: MIS may be associated with CAD in anti-HCV-positive HD patients.