Association of Hepatitis C Seropositivity With Increased Risk for Developing End-stage Renal Disease

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Abstract
An estimated 3 million Americans have been exposed to the hepatitis C virus (HCV), representing approximately 1.6% of the US population.1 Although the primary burden of disease associated with HCV is liver related, other organ systems may be involved.2,3 Chronic HCV has been linked to several different forms of glomerulonephritis and to albuminuria.4-16 However, to date no large-scale longitudinal studies (to our knowledge) have quantified the risk for clinically significant renal outcomes among individuals with HCV compared with uninfected control subjects. We used data from Medicare, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) to determine whether seropositivity for HCV was associated with an increased risk for developing treated end-stage renal disease (ESRD).