Evaluation of Serum Complement Proteins and Biochemical Parameters in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease-associated Pruritus

Abstract

Chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP) is a common, troubling, and in some cases a debilitating problem for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), end-stage renal disease (ESRD), as well as those maintained on hemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD). This study aims to assess the serum complement 3 (C3), complement 4 (C4), and biochemical parameters levels in HD patients with CKD-aP. The research was performed between 4 th of October 2021 – 5 th of March 2022 on 60 HD patients, who suffer from CKD-aP, and 30 healthy controls in Baqubah Teaching Hospital-Ibn Sina Dialysis Center. The findings of our investigation revealed that levels of C3 and C4 were significantly decreased in HD patients with CKD-aP (57.83 ± 2.91 mg/dl and 14.59 ± 0.88 mg/dl, respectively) as compared to healthy controls (110.76 ± 2.20 mg/dl and 32.02 ± 1.09 mg/dl, respectively) (P = < 0.001).