Aim: Patients in chronic renal failure suffer impaired cellular immunity and have an increased risk of tuberculosis (TB). Our aim in this multicenter study was to determine the incidence of TB and to evaluate latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in hemodialysis patients.
Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the frequency of TB in 779 dialysis patients at 13 hemodialysis centers in five different cities in Southeast Turkey. The tuberculin skin test (TST) was conducted in 733 patients to detect LTBI.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 51.2 +/- 15.9 years; 398 (51.1%) of the patients were female, and 53.9% of patients had a BCG scar. The mean dialysis duration time was 35.1 +/- 33.4 months. TB was diagnosed in 34 cases. The incidence rate of TB in patients undergoing hemodialysis was 3.1%. Ten patients had a history of TB before beginning hemodialysis, and 24 patients had a history of TB after beginning hemodialysis. A diagnosis of TB was made based on clinical data in eight patients and microbiologically or pathologically in 26 patients. The median time between the initiation of dialysis to the diagnosis of TB was 11 months. Extrapulmonary TB occurred in 45.8% of cases, and the most common site of involvement was the lymph nodes. The TST was positive in 61.8% of TB patients and in 37.5% of those with no history of TB.
Conclusions: The incidence of TB is high in hemodialysis patients, and they should be evaluated periodically to exclude insidious infection and reduce morbidity and mortality.