The Relationship Between Duration of Hemodialysis, Helicobacter pylori and CagA Seropositivity in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Helicobacter pylori occurrence and, Cytotoxinassociated gene A (CagA) seropositivity with hemodialysis (HD) duration, Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and hemogram parameters in hemodialysis patients. Materials and Methods: This study included 165 prevalent HD patients. Blood samples were collected before dialysis treatment of the patients. The samples were then centrifuged at 1500 x g for 10 min. immediately after collection. The presence of serum IgG antibody for H. pylori was determined using commercial ELISA kits. Serum anti-CagA IgG antibody of H. pylori positive patients was determined by ELISA method using commercial ELISA kits. CRP levels were measured by nephelometric method, and hemogram parameters were analyzed using fully automated hematology analyzer. Results: We found that the CRP levels of the patients having H. pylori were significantly high. However, there was no significant difference between CRP levels of long-term hemodialysis (LTHD) and short -term hemodialysis (STHD) patients. The possibility of being seropositive of CagA for STHD patients having H. pylori was found to be 2.3 times higher than that of LTHD patients. In addition to that, the periodicity of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding was significantly high in STHD patients. Conclusion: In conclusion, we found no relationship between dialysis duration and H. pylori prevalence. However, we observed significantly higher odds ratio for CagA seropositivity in patients receiving STHD. These findings suggest that longer dialysis treatment can cause improving effects on H. pylori virulence. Further studies are needed to verify these findings.