Evaluation of variability of acute phase proteins in hemodialysis patients

Background: The prognosis of chronic dialysis patients is poor, in part due to the high incidence of cardiovascular disease and malnutrition. It has been recognized that 30-50% of hemodialysis patients have serological evidence of an activated inflammatory response. Chronic inflammation may cause malnutrition and progressive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. It would be obvious interest to study prevalence of inflammatory factors particularly CRP as prominent components of inflammatory syndrome in dialysis patients. The objective of this study was to study prevalence of inflammatory factors particularly C-reactive protein (CRP) in hemodialysis patients. Methods: We studied 125 dialysis patients in a cross sectional study during summer of 2001 in two university hospitals. Serum CRP (agglutination method), albumin (bromocresol green method) and ferritin (ELISA) were measured in all patients. Results: One hundred and twenty five patients including 53 (44.1%) men and 72 (55.9%) women were enrolled in this study. Fourteen patients (11.2%) had hypoalbuminemia, 81 (64.8%) had high serum ferritin, and 57 subjects (45.6%) were CRP positive. Conclusion: According to high prevalence of inflammatory factors especially C-reactive protein in dialysis patients, CRP and other inflammatory factors should be screened in this group of patients routinely because of their prognostic importance.