Patients who developed acute kidney injury (AKI) during hospitalization for COVID-19 were found to have significantly faster reduction in kidney function and slower recovery following hospital discharge, in comparison with patients with AKI not related to COVID-19, in a new research published in JAMA Network Open.

The greater decline was found to be independent of AKI severity and comorbidities. Investigators assessed 182 patients from five hospitals in Connecticut and Rhode Island who developed AKI after COVID-19 diagnosis between March 10 and August 31, 2020, and who survived after discharge and did not need dialysis within 3 days. They were compared with 1430 patients who developed AKI not linked with COVID-19. Outpatient creatinine levels in the first 6 months after discharge revealed that among patients with AKI associated with COVID-19, the mean rate of decrease in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) after discharge was faster compared to the patients who did not have COVID-19, after adjustment for baseline characteristics and comorbidities. A subanalysis evaluated the time to recovery among 319 patients who had not fully recovered from AKI at the time of discharge. Patients with AKI after COVID had lesser odds of having experienced kidney recovery at follow-up… (Medscape)