Chronic hepatitis ameliorates anaemia in haemodialysis patients

Background: Study for influence of chronic hepatitis (CH) on anaemia in haemodialysis (HD) patients remains inconclusive. We aim to characterize the red cell status between CH and hepatitis‐free groups among the HD population. Methods: We retrospectively analysed 80 chronic HD patients from Taipei Medical University Hospital with monthly sampled biochemical study between December 2004 and December 2005. Data classified according to the hepatitis‐free, chronic hepatitis B and C groups were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Student's t‐test and anova were used to determine the mean difference for continuous variables. Results: Age, Kt/V, systolic or diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, total cholesterol and triglyceride were not different between CH and hepatitis‐free groups. HD duration (P = 0.0002), aspartate (P < 0.0001), alanine aminotransferase (P < 0.0001), alkaline phosphatase (P = 0.04), haemoglobin (P = 0.0066) and haematocrit (P = 0.002) were significantly more elevated in the CH group demanding less erythropoietin dose than in the hepatitis‐free group. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that lessoned anaemia was observed in CH, which demanded less erythropoietin dose.