ABSTRACT
Background@#The association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and chronic kidney disease (CKD) still remains controversial. We aimed to investigate whether HCV really affects renal function, and to analyze the association between clinical effects of CHC and decreased kidney function (assessed by glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) level).@*Aim@#Study of renal dysfunction in chronic hepatitis C virus infection@*Materials and Methods@#An estimated 222 patients with HCV infection and 222 age- and sex-matched community-based control individuals without HCV were enrolled (1:1, case and control ratio) in this study between from June 2022 to March 2023. We used the modification of diet in renal diseases to calculate eGFR. This study was approved by the review board of the Ethics Subcommittee of Ach Medical University and followed the Declaration of Helsinki. All statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 26.0 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), and a P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Continuous variebles were presented as mean ± standard deviation, while categorical data was represented as numbers and percentages. Independent t-tests were used to compare the differences in parametric variables. The Mann-Whitney U test was performed to compare the follow-up period. Pearson’s chi-squared and Fisher’s exact tests were used to compare categorical variables. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify the risk factors associated with recurrence. @*Results@#The median age of the respondents was 40 (range 21-70). In the case group, the speed of hanging judgment was 105.3±24.5, and in the control group, it was 118.7±18.5, which was a statistically significant difference (p<0.05, p<0.05). It was observed that the rate of filtration of the renal is below 90 or the loss of renal function increases with age (47.50±9.3 vs 40.21±11.1; p<0.01). In order to reduce the effect of age, when evaluating the renal function of participants over 45 years of age in the case-control group, the HCV was 99.69 in the case group and 111.05 in the control group, although there was an age effect on the decline in HCV in both groups, but it decreased more in the HCV-infected group. When comparing two groups (<3.25, >3.25) with liver fibrosis degree above and below 3.25, the higher degree of fibrosis affects the decrease in the rate of hepatic filtration (112.92±19.8 vs 105.23±27.1; p<0.01). The proportion of cryoglobulinemia was high when renal dysfunction was beginning or when the GFR was below 90 (<90). Logistic regression analysis showed that cryoglobulinemia had the greatest influence on the decrease in glomerular filtration rate (OR 4.22, 95% CI 1.97-9.00, p<0.05). The relationship between age and the decline in hanging judgment speed was statistically significant and directly moderate (r=0.95, p=0.009). On the other hand, there is a statistical relationship between gender and the decrease in the speed of hanging judgment, with a probable and weak correlation (r=0.07, p=0.01).@*Conclusion@#Our study found that the patients with HCV infection are associated with a low eGFR compared with non-HCV–infected patients. This association is consistent in age, gender, cryoglobulinemia and liver fibrosis patients.