HIV linked to more risk of ESRD in blacks

San Francisco -- African-Americans infected with HIV have the risk of end-stage renal disease, or ESRD, six times higher than for whites with HIV, a U.S. study found.

Dr. Andy I. Choi of San Francisco General Hospital and University of California, San Francisco, analyzed Veterans Administration health data on more than 2 million veterans who underwent kidney function tests from 2000 to 2001. The data was tracked to 2004 and used to identify patients who developed ESRD -- permanent loss of kidney function requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation.

"Our study demonstrated a striking and unexpected degree of ESRD among HIV-infected persons of black race," Choi said in a statement.

"On the other hand, among white patients with HIV, rates of ESRD were far lower than among blacks and HIV did not confer an increased risk of ESRD. We can think of few other risk factors for ESRD that are modified to this extent by race."

About 15,000 of the veterans had HIV -- a rate of 0.8 percent. For white patients, HIV did not increase ESRD risk, but risk was approximately doubled for white patients with diabetes.

The findings are published in the November Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

© Copyright United Press International.