1994 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 77-82
Committee on Infectious Diseases of Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy (JSDT) tried to describe the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Japanese end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on chronic dialysis therapy.
Questionnaire on hepatitis C infection estimated by the second-generation antibodies were sent to 2, 309 dialysis institutions on February 1992. The response rate was 61.1% of the institutions, which covered 57.2% of hemodialysis (HD) and 52.1% of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) populations. The recovery rates in seven areas in Japan were not different. The economical background of responded institutions were not different from those of all Japanese dialysis population.
The ratio of HCV antibody positive patients were 23.9% of HD patients and 11.2% of CAPD patients. The ratio in HD ranged from 19.6% in Tokyo to 26.7% in Shikoku-Kyushu. The ratio in CAPD ranged from 7.6% in Hokkaido-Tohoku to 14.0%. As complications of HCV infection, prevalence of HCV positive liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma were 8.57 patients/1, 000 ESRD patients/year and 3.87 patients/1, 000 patients/year. Accidental needle punctures were reported in 15.2 stuffs/year/1, 000 stuffs, but only 1.14 stuffs/year/1, 000 stuffs turned out to be positive HCV antibody. Special instructions or manuals for the care of HCV-positive patients and accidental HCV-positive needle puncture were prepared only 21% and 25% of dialysis institutions, respectively.
Those results confirmed the increased prevalence of HCV virus infection into Japanese dialysis patients. The study to clarify how to deal with HCV infection in dialysis institutions should be done.
