Hepatitis C virus, an important risk factor for tuberculosis in immunocompromised: experience with kidney transplantation

Little is known about the role of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the development of tuberculosis (TB) in patients with immunosuppression. We performed a retrospective case–control study (1:4) to investigate by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis the importance of HCV infection in the development of TB in a cohort of kidney transplant recipients (KTR). TB was diagnosed in 16 out of 2012 (0.8%) KTR between 1976 and 2004. The percentage of HCV-positive patients was significantly higher in cases than in controls (56.3% vs. 18.8%; P  = 0.02). By multivariate analysis, the only two independent risk factors associated with the development of TB were the presence of HCV infection ( P  = 0.003; OR = 6.5; 95% CI 1.9–23) and serum creatinine over 1.5 mg/dl ( P  = 0.03; OR = 4.8; 95% CI 1.1–21). HCV infection and chronic graft dysfunction are important risks factors for TB in KTR.