The Relationship of Hepatitis C Seroprevalence and Age, Sex, and Hemodialysis Time of Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis

In the present study which investigates the effect of hemodialysis time to hepatit C virus (HCV) seroprevalence, sera belonging to 216 patients treated with hemodialysis from three centers were used as materials. Microparticle Enzyme Immune Assay (MEIA) and chemiluminescence assays were used to investigate anti-HCV antibodies in patients sera and the obtained results were recorded. The relationship among sex, age and hemodialysis time of the patients and the obtained results were investigated. It was established that anti-HCV positivity is 23.2% in men and 14.4% in women, and mean HCV seroprevalence is 19%. The mean age of the patient is 47.8 +/- 17.3 year, mean dialysis time is 47.8 +/- 42.5 month. In conclusion, while there is not any relationship among anti-HCV positivity, sex and the age of patients, there was statistically important relationship between anti-HCV positivity and beginning time to dialysis (r=0.501, p=0.0001).