Phosphate and IL-10 concentration as predictors of long-covid in hemodialysis patients: A Brazilian study
Hugo de Luca Corrêa, Lysleine Alves Deus, Thaís Branquinho de Araújo, Andrea Lucena Reis, Carlos E.N. Amorim, André Bonadias Gadelha, Rafael Lavarini dos Santos, Fernando Sousa Honorato, Daisy Motta‐Santos, Carmen Tzanno‐Martins, Rodrigo Vanerson Passos Neves, Thiago dos Santos Rosa
Abstract
Background The global burden of persistent COVID-19 in hemodialysis (HD) patients is a worrisome scenario worth of investigation for the critical care of chronic kidney disease (CKD). We performed an exploratory post-hoc study from the trial U1111-1237-8231 with two specific aims: i) to investigate the prevalence of COVID-19 infection and long COVID symptoms from our Cohort of 178 Brazilians HD patients. ii) to identify whether baseline characteristics should predict long COVID in this sample. Methods 247 community-dwelling older (>60 years) patients (Men and women) undergoing HD (glomerular filtration rate < 15 mL/min/1.73m 2 ) with arteriovenous fistula volunteered for this study. All patients presented hypertension and diabetes. Patients were divided in two groups: without long-COVID and with long-COVID. Body composition, handgrip strength, functional performance, iron metabolism, phosphate, and inflammatory profile were assessed. Patients were screened for 11-months after COVID-19 infection. Results were considered significant at P < 0.05. Results We found that more than 85% of the COVID-19 infected patients presented a severe condition during the infection. In our sample, the mortality rate over 11-month follow was relatively low (8.4%) when compared to worldwide (approximately 36%). Long COVID was highly prevalent in COVID-19 survivors representing more than 80% of all cases. Phosphate and IL-10 were higher in the long COVID group, but only phosphate higher than 5.35 mg/dL appears to present an increased prevalence of long COVID, dyspnea, and fatigue. Conclusion There was a high prevalence of COVID-19 infection and long COVID in HD patients from the Brazilian trial ‘U1111-1237-8231’. HD clinics should be aware with phosphate range in HD patients as a possible target for adverse post-COVID events.