Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B and C Virus Infection in Children with Chronic Kidney Diseases; A Historical Cohort Study

Background: The prevalence of hepatitis B and C in Iranian children with chronic kidney disease is limited. Therefore, the present study intends to assess the prevalence of hepatitis B and C in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD).Method: The present study is a historical cohort study which was conducted in a window period of 25 years in Children’s Medical Center in Tehran, 1991-2016. Data (age, gender, duration of hemodialysis, kidney transplant, and severity of CKD) were extracted from hospital profiles of admitted patients. Infection with hepatitis B or C viruses was considered as primary outcome. At the end, results were reported as odds ratio (OR) with a confidence interval of 95 per cent (95% CI).Results: Three hundred and fifty five children (50.1% boys, mean age of 54.5±89.0 months) were assessed. Hepatitis B and hepatitis C were detected in 9 (2.5%) and 5 (1.4%) children, respectively. Ten children had either hepatitis B or C infection with a prevalence of 2.8% (95% confidence interval: 1.4% to 5.1%). Multivariable analyses showed that association between the need for hemodialysis (OR=13.52; p=0.083) and severity of chronic kidney disease (OR=0.28; p=0.072) with incidence of hepatitis infection was borderline. However, risk of hepatitis B or C infection was 5.9-fold greater in girls compared to boys (OR=5.94; p=0.047).Conclusion: The present study showed that the prevalence of hepatitis B and C were 2.5% and 1.4%, in children with chronic kidney disease, respectively. The prevalence of mentioned infections was significantly higher in girls compared to boys.