STUDY SHOWS THAT MORE THAN ONE THIRD OF COVID-19 PATIENTS DEVELOP ACUTE KIDNEY INJURY

Research from the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and Northwell Health’s Division of Nephrology have previously reported that more than one third of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients who sought treatment at the hospitals of Northwell Health, New York State’s largest integrated health system, developed acute kidney injury (AKI).

New research from the largest study of its kind details a more comprehensive look at outcomes for COVID-19 patients with AKI, including kidney recovery, the need for dialytic support and post-discharge care.

AKI is a sudden episode of kidney injury or damage, preventing waste from being filtered within the body and can often lead to death. The outcomes data published in the American Journal of Kidney Disease is a retrospective analysis of electronic health records (EHR) of 9,657 hospitalized COVID-19 patients between March 1 and April 27, 2020.

“Because of the high rates of AKI in COVID-19 patients, it is crucial that we understand how the virus affects recovery,” said Jia H. Ng, MD, a researcher at the Feinstein Institutes and lead author of the paper.

The study found that 39.9 percent (3,854 of 9,657 of patients) developed AKI. While 83.4 percent (3,216) of those patients did not need kidney replacement therapies (KRT), 51.7 percent (1,663/3,216) survived. Importantly, the majority of these patients – 74.1 percent – saw recovery of kidney function at the time of discharge.

Of patients with AKI who required KRT and survived, 66.7 percent (72/108) recovered kidney function. In the remaining AKI-KRT patients, a third (36/108) did not have kidney recovery, of which 91.7 percent (33) who had not previously needed dialysis left the hospitals needing ongoing dialysis care after COVID-19 and AKI.

“Because of the high rates of AKI in COVID-19 patients, it is crucial that we understand how the virus affects recovery,” said Jia H. Ng, MD, a researcher at the Feinstein Institutes and lead author of the paper.

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