Aim: Assessing the prevalence of HBV and HCV infections in children under going hemodialysis.
Introduction: Chronic hemodialysis is a life saving process in patient with end stage renal disease. Hemodialysis patients are at high risk for viral hepatitis infections due to the high number of blood transfusion sessions, prolonged vascular access and the potential for exposure to infected patients and contaminated equipments. Approximately 8% and 20% of hemodialysis patients have B hepatitis and C hepatitis respectively and this data varies from country to country. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus(HCV) infections are important causes of morbidity and mortality in hemodialysis patients.
Methods: Based on the information gathered from the 149 hemodialysis children files, some special questionnaires were filled in. the obtained data was assessed and analyzed in SPSS software.
Results: A total of 149 hemodialysis patients with mean age 8.8(range: 0.24–16.74) years were enrolled in the study. Out of the total 149 patients, 74 were male and 75 were female. The majority of the patients (51 people) were in the 7–10 years age range. After glomeropathies (34 cases – 22.8%),reflux nephrophaties(24 cases – 16.10%) were the main reasons in charge of renal impairment in our study population.
The results of our study in hemodialysis patients referring to the children's Medical Center of Iran from 1991 to 2009 suggests that prevalence of B and C hepatitis were both 2.04%and the prevalence of the concurrent infections (B and C hepatitis) were 2.72%.
Conclusion: This study confirms that the prevalence of B and C hepatitis among hemodialysis children reffered to children's medical center are much lower than the adult hemodialysis patients in Iran and worldwide. This might indicate the higher health standards and the absence of intravenous drug abuse and unsafe sex among our study population. Screening donated bloods, treating anemia with erythropoietin, avoidance of dialyzer reuse, assignation of dedicated dialysis rooms, machines, and staff for infected patients, new disinfection methods, screening the patients before entering dialysis program and vaccination of susceptible patients and staff all have been reffered to as means of limiting hepatitis transmission within our dialysis unit.
The results of this study can be used in health programming and budget allocating for this group.