Relation between pulmonary function and inflammatory biomarkers in hemodialysis patients

The purpose of our study was to investigate the relationship between pulmonary function and serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin, albumin, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, as inflammatory biomarkers, in hemodialysis patients. Ninety-eight patients, who were dialyzed at least for 3 months, were included in this study. Patients' blood samples were collected and pulmonary function tests, forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), and peak expiratory flow (PEF) were measured and expressed as the %predicted using appropriate normal values for the patients' sex, age, and height (%FVC, %FEV1, and %PEF), at the same time. The patients with CRP ≥ 10 μg/mL were significantly older and had lower values of %FEV1, %FVC and %PEF (p = 0.006, p = 0.001, and p = 0.016, respectively); whereas just %FEV1 (p = 0.025) and %FVC (p = 0.009) had significant differences between the patients with ferritin ≥ 100 μg/L and other patients. However, no other significant differences were found between inflammatory biomarkers and the pulmonary function tests. We concluded that inflammation has a close relation with pulmonary dysfunction in hemodialysis patients.