Study of Red Cell Fragility in Different Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease in Relation to Parathyroid Hormone.

INTRODUCTION

Anaemia is one of the common complications associated with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) responsible for the increase in the morbidity and mortality in such patients. Several factors have been attributed to cause renal anaemia, amongst which hyperparathyroidism is one of the less recognised reasons. Most studies have been conducted in this regard in CKD patients undergoing haemodialysis. The level of PTH in early stages of chronic kidney disease has not been much studied. The excess amount of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) secondary to CKD has been suggested to be a causative factor for anaemia.

AIM

To evaluate the serum PTH level in CKD patients before haemodialysis and to study the association of the haemoglobin status with the parathyroid hormone.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Forty CKD patients above 18 years of age before haemodialysis and 25 age and sex matched healthy controls were included in the study. Routine biochemical and haematological parameters such as Routine Blood Sugar (RBS), urea, creatinine, Na, K, Ca, PTH and Hb% were perfomed. Red cell osmotic fragility was measured by serial dilutions of whole blood with varying concentrations of sodium chloride ranging from 0.1% to 0.9%.

RESULTS

The study revealed a significant fall in Hb%, along with a rise in Median Osmotic Fragility (MOF) and PTH in the CKD patients when compared to the control group. Linear regression of PTH with Hb% revealed significant negative association between both the parameters with a R value of 0.677. Multilinear regression analysis of MOF and other independent variables such as Hb%, Na, K, Ca, urea, PTH and creatinine highlighted the variance of MOF by 72%, maximal variance contributed by PTH. Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) analysis revealed an area under the curve of 0.980 with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 87% in detecting osmotic fragility at a cut off value of PTH ≥100 pg/ml.

CONCLUSION

The underlying cause of anaemia should be identified early in the CKD patients before haemodialysis. Secondary hyperparathyroidism should be ruled out as a causative factor of anaemia to slow down the progression of the disease process.