Outcomes of critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 patients requiring kidney replacement therapy: A retrospective cohort study
Josephine Braunsteiner, Dominik Jarczak, Christian Schmidt‐Lauber, Olaf Boenisch, Geraldine de Heer, Christoph Burdelski, Daniel Frings, Barbara Sensen, Axel Nierhaus, Elion Hoxha, Tobias B. Huber, Dominic Wichmann, Stefan Kluge, Marlene Fischer, Kevin Roedl
Abstract
Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in high hospitalization rates worldwide. Acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 is frequent and associated with disease severity and poor outcome. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of kidney replacement therapy (KRT) in critically ill patients with COVID-19 and its implication on outcome. Methods We retrospectively analyzed all COVID-19 patients admitted to the Department of Intensive Care Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (Germany) between 1 March 2020 and 31 July 2021. Demographics, clinical parameters, type of organ support, length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, mortality and severity scores were assessed. Results Three-hundred critically ill patients with COVID-19 were included. The median age of the study population was 61 (IQR 51–71) years and 66% ( n = 198) were male. 73% ( n = 219) of patients required invasive mechanical ventilation. Overall, 68% ( n = 204) of patients suffered from acute respiratory distress syndrome and 30% ( n = 91) required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). We found that 46% ( n = 139) of patients required KRT. Septic shock (OR 11.818, 95% CI: 5.941–23.506, p < 0.001), higher simplified acute physiology scores (SAPS II) (OR 1.048, 95% CI: 1.014–1.084, p = 0.006) and vasopressor therapy (OR 5.475, 95% CI: 1.127–26.589, p = 0.035) were independently associated with the initiation of KRT. 61% ( n = 85) of patients with and 18% ( n = 29) without KRT died in the ICU ( p < 0.001). Cox regression found that KRT was independently associated with mortality (HR 2.075, 95% CI: 1.342–3.208, p = 0.001) after adjusting for confounders. Conclusion Critically ill patients with COVID-19 are at high risk of acute kidney injury with about half of patients requiring KRT. The initiation of KRT was associated with high mortality.