High prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus in diabetic hemodialysis patients

The study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in chronic hemodialysis patients with or without diabetic mellitus. Among the 253 hemodialysis patients, 65 (25.7%) were positive for anti-HCV Twenty-three of 65 HCV positive patients (35.4%) and 41 of 188 sero-negative patients had diabetes mellitus. The anti-HCV positivity was significantly associated with diabetes (p < 0.0461). The prevalence of anti-HCV also showed a relation to the duration of hemodialysis treatment (p < 0.0001), since 45 of 253 patients (19.8%) had hemodialysis treatment for more than 10 years and higher anti-HCV positivity (64.4%). Furthermore, all of diabetic patients on hemodialysis treatment for more than 10 years (n = 3) were anti-HCV positive. The present study suggests that patients with diabetes mellitus and/or on longer maintenance hemodialysis are at increased risk of HCV infection.