Abstract
Anti-HCV was examined in 454 patients on chronic hemodialysis(HD) in Fukuoka in 1990. The anti-HCV positive rate was significantly greater in those with than in those without blood transfusion (40.5% vs 11.7% for males, p<0.01, and 29.4% vs 5.6% for females, p<0.01). The anti-HCV positive rate increased with the duration of HD treatment among all patients except for the non-transfusion female patients. Blood transfusion thus appeared to be a major route of HCV infection in HD patients as had been reported previously. The anti-HCV positive rate was 2.6 times higher in those who had less than 5 years HD treatment but had never received a blood transfusion than found in the blood donors of Kitakyushu Red Cross Blood Center, adjusted by age. These results suggest that HD treatment might increase the exposure to HCV infection apart from blood transfusion. J Epidemiol, 1991 ; 1 : 31-36.
