Serum Level of Beta 2 Microglobulin in End Stage Renal Disease Patients with Pruritus

Rashad, Haidy; Atwa, Mona; Hassan, Basma; Mohammed, Roshdy; Tawfik, Gamal

doi:10.21608/scumj.2014.46466

Serum Level of Beta 2 Microglobulin in End Stage Renal Disease Patients with Pruritus

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Dermatology & Venereology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University

² Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University

³ Department of Internal Medicine, Nephrology unit, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University

10.21608/scumj.2014.46466

Abstract

Background: Etiology of uremic pruritus as a common complication in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) is not fully understood. Aim: Our aim was to highlight beta 2 microglobulin (β2M) as a risk factor for uremic pruritus and to assess the diagnostic performance of β2M for predicting pruritus in patients with ESRD. We assessed the serum level of β2M in hemodialysis patients with pruritus compared to those without pruritus. Subjects and Methods: This study included 17 ESRD patients on hemodialysis with pruritus and 17 ESRD patients on hemodialysis without pruritus. Patients included in this study were subjected to detailed history taking, assessment of pruritus severity using visual analog scale (VAS) in pruritic group, kidney function test and estimation of serum β2M levels. Results: The pre-dialysis serum level of β2M was significantly higher in pruritic group than in nonpruritic group (2.79±1.20 and 1.52±0.66, respectively, p=0.002). The post-dialysis serum level of β2M was also significantly higher in pruritic group than in nonpruritic group (3.44±1.31 and 1.89±0.62 respectively, p=0.001). The diagnostic performance of β2M for predicting pruritus in patients with ESRD was good as evidenced by area under the curve (AUC: 81.7, p=0.0001). Best cut off point for predicting pruritus in ESRD was >2.05 in pre-dialysis and >2.66 in post-dialysis. Conclusion: Our results showed high serum level of β2M in ESRD patients with pruritus that may highlight the role of β2M in the pathogenesis of this important problem. β2M has good diagnostic performance of for predicting pruritus in patients with ESRD.

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