Evaluation of serum Resistin in children with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis

INTRODUCTION: High serum resistin levels are associated with the incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The objectives of this study were to determine the serum concentrations of resistin in children that present with chronic renal failure (CRF) and end stage renal disease (ESRD), in order to examine the impact of hemodialysis (HD) on serum resistin levels, and to determine if a correlation exists between resistin and growth retardation in patients with CRF. METHODS: This case control study was undertaken in the pediatric hemodialysis unit of the Benha and Menoufia University hospitals from April 2014 to March 2015. The case group consisted of 50 patients with CRF aged from 6–18 years (25 of them under HD and 25 of them under conservative treatment) and 30 healthy children who constituted the control group. Urea, creatinine, and serum resistin were measured before and after the HD session for patients with CRF who are already under HD. RESULTS: A highly significant difference was found between the resistin levels in the two groups with mean level of 20.2 ± 7.58 ng/ml in the patient case group as compared to 4.9 ± 1.72 ng/ml in the control group. This highly significant difference found in the resistin level differed according to the Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) stage of progression as patients on regular HD had resistin levels with a mean of 24.6 ± 7.28 ng/ml while the CKD patients under conservative treatment have resistin level mean of 15.6 ± 4.72 ng/ml. there was a highly significant difference in resistin levels before HD (mean = 24.6 ± 7.28) and after hemodialysis (mean = 14.7 ± 5.2). CONCLUSION: Patients with CRF experienced higher than normal resistin levels as compared to the case control group and it was found that patients on HD had more elevated levels of resistin than did those patients who were on conservative treatment. HD treatments were found to be capable of lowering a patient’s resistin levels. A highly significant negative correlation was found between serum resistin levels and the two contributing factors of total body weight and body mass index (BMI) as well as demonstrating a significant negative correlation between serum resistin levels and height percentiles.