Serum Hepcidin-25 Independently Predicts Mortality in Maintenance Hemodialysis patients: Study

Hepcidin plays an important role in regulating iron levels; it inhibits intestinal iron absorption and iron release from hepatocytes and macrophages. Iron deficiency may result in severe anemia whereas iron overload results in production of toxic oxidants which may cause multiple organ damage. It is due to this reason that iron status should be regularly monitored in patients undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis (MHD). Since hepcidin-25 regulates iron metabolism, it can be used as a supplement for evaluating functional iron deficiency.

With this background, a prospective observational cohort study was carried out by the Department of Nephrology at the Xuzhou Medical University, China to investigate the associations between hepcidin-25 and mortality in MHD patients.

A total of 161 patients undergoing Maintenance Haemodialysis were included in the study, with a 2 year follow-up. The median value of baseline serum hepcidin-25 was 31.0 (12.1, 57.3) ng/mL. So, the patients were divided into two groups - low-level hepcidin-25 group, and high-level hepcidin-25 group. The relationships between various variables including serum hepcidin-25, demographic characteristics as well as certain other clinical parameters, was investigated.

The study revealed that the serum iron, serum ferritin, transferrin saturation (TSAT), and hsCRP were higher, pre-dialysis creatinine and albumin were lower, and the scores of health-related qualities of life were worse in the high-level hepcidin-25 group than in the low-level hepcidin-25 group. The patients with hepcidin-25< 31 ng/mL had better survival outcomes during the 24-month follow-up. It was also evident that serum hepcidin-25 was associated with ferritin, TSAT, and all-cause mortality.

"Serum hepcidin-25 was associated with ferritin and TSAT, and could be an independent predictor for all-cause mortality in MHD patients. Further research with larger sample size and longer-term follow-up is still needed," the investigators concluded.

Reference:

Study titled, "Serum Hepcidin-25 and All-Cause Mortality in Patients Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis," as published in Dovepress.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S313777