Acute kidney injury in patients with COVID-19

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: An outbreak of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was noted in December 2019, affecting Wuhan city, Hubei Province, in China. It soon spread to other areas across the world. It is well known that the diffuse alveolar damage and acute respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus remain the main features; however, the involvement of other organs is also noted. In this review, we have attempted to determine the prevalence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients with COVID-19. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a literature search for relevant research papers published till April 25, 2020, using the electronic Google Scholar and PubMed database with the following terms: COVID-19, acute kidney injury, renal failure, and outcome. RESULTS: We found 16 articles related to AKI and COVID-19 in the English language from the Google Scholar database and PubMed database. Of these, six articles from China were directly related to the AKI in patients with COVID-19. Forty-nine percent (49.7%) of the admitted patients had comorbidities. Thirty patients (2%) out of 1430 patients had chronic kidney disease before admission. A total of 139 patients (9.36%) developed AKI during hospital admission. A total of 51 patients (52%) with AKI died during the course of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of AKI in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 was around 9%. Coexisting chronic kidney disease and other comorbidities were risk factors for the development of AKI. AKI was associated with a higher mortality in these patients.

Keywords

• acute kidney injury
• coronavirus disease 2019
• inhospital death
• kidney disease