Prevalence of natural acquired immunity to Streptococcus pneumoniae in hemodialysis patients Jahrom-Iran, 2022

Immune system disorders as one of the major problems in dialysis patients increase their susceptibility to pneumococcal pneumonia. The present study was conducted for the first time in Iran with the aim of determining the prevalence of natural acquired immunity to Streptococcus pneumoniae in hemodialysis patients in Jahrom, Iran.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 89 hemodialysis patients in Jahrom-Iran, 2022. The presence of anti-pneumococcal antibodies in the serum of patients was assessed by ELISA method. Demographic information, mean history of hemodialysis treatment and number of times per week were extracted from patients' records. Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics-23 statistical software (IBM, USA) using descriptive statistics, chi-square and Fisher's exact test.

The prevalence of immunity to Streptococcus pneumoniae in dialysis patients was 20.22%. There was a significant difference in the prevalence of pneumococcal immunity between participants in terms of age groups, sex and number of dialysis sessions per week (p<0.05) but there was no statistically significant relationship with the duration of dialysis treatment (p=0.09).

Prevalence of this type of immunity, which indicates a history of pneumococcal infection in dialysis patients in Jahrom. Due to the ability to prevent this infection by pneumococcal vaccination, the need for Iranian dialysis patients for pneumococcal vaccination is recommended.