INTESTINAL BACTERIAL FLORA CHANGES IN HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS

Abstract

In our study we hypothesized that patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis complain of gastrointestinal symptoms which could be related to changes in intestinal bacteria flora.To address this question, we conducted a cross sectional study. So, a cohort of 100 volunteers was assembled from those attending the nephrology unit in Ain Shams hospital. These volunteers were divided into 2 groups. The patient group consists of seventy patients with known history of chronic kidney disease on regular HD and suffering from gastrointestinal symptoms. Subjects with lower gastrointestinal symptoms related to amoeba or helicobacter pylori were excluded from the selection candidates, while the control group consisted of thirty subjects of matched age and sex, with no past history of acute illness or chronic disease. For both groups Laboratory investigations including:Blood urea ,Serum creatinine ,Urea reduction ratio,Serum uric acid ,CBC ,Serum calcium ,Serum phosphorous,serum albumin,Stool examination,Stool culture (conventional stool culture),detection of Helicobacter pylori antigen in stool. We then compared between two groups using parametric tests and nonparametric tests and looked for distribution of Summary bacteria flora, relation between bacteria flora and gastrointestinal symptoms and prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms using chisquare test. We confirmed that patients with CKD on hemodialysis have increased prevalence of upper (nausea, epigastric pain) and lower (constipation) GIT symptoms. The distribution of bacteria flora showed no statistical significant changes between the patient and control groups