Chronic hepatitis ameliorates anaemia in haemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND: Study for influence of chronic hepatitis (CH) on anaemia in haemodialysis (HD) patients remains inconclusive. We aim to characterize the red cell status between CH and hepatitis-free groups among the HD population.

METHODS: We retrospectively analysed 80 chronic HD patients from Taipei Medical University Hospital with monthly sampled biochemical study between December 2004 and December 2005. Data classified according to the hepatitis-free, chronic hepatitis B and C groups were expressed as mean +/- standard deviation. Student's t-test and anova were used to determine the mean difference for continuous variables.

RESULTS: Age, Kt/V, systolic or diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, total cholesterol and triglyceride were not different between CH and hepatitis-free groups. HD duration (P = 0.0002), aspartate (P < 0.0001), alanine aminotransferase (P < 0.0001), alkaline phosphatase (P = 0.04), haemoglobin (P = 0.0066) and haematocrit (P = 0.002) were significantly more elevated in the CH group demanding less erythropoietin dose than in the hepatitis-free group.

CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that lessened anaemia was observed in CH, which demanded less erythropoietin dose.