Seroprevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) in patients on maintenance haemodialysis at tertiary care hospitals of Pune, Maharashtra, India

Introduction: High prevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been reported among the dialysis patients throughout the world. Aim of the study was to evaluate prevalence of HCV in haemodialysis patients at tertiary care hospitals of Pune, Maharashtra, India. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study design was conducted among 250 patients from five dialysis centres in pune city including both government and corporate hospitals who reported to the nephrology department for haemodialysis in a period of one year. Cases were studied in detail about complete history, clinical and demographical profile as well as several biochemical parameters. A predesigned, pretested questionnaire was used for data collection. SPSS 21.0 version software was used to analyze the data. Result: Prevalence of HCV Infection in patients on hemodialysis was found to be (18.8%). Out of total anti-HCV antibody positive patients (59.6%) were found to be male and (40.4%) were female. Out of total anti-HCV antibody positive cases (72.3%) had been on dialysis for more than 5 years. About (68.1%) of total positive cases received blood transfusion once or more in life time. Conclusion: In developing countries with a high endemic background of HCV infection surveillance programs and efforts to increase awareness, improve diagnosis and facilitate treatment of acute HCV will have far reaching implications for the management of chronic HCV. Thus preventive measures and the adherence to universal precautions for HCV control remain a priority.