Sex and mortality in septic severe acute kidney injury

To investigate the relationship between sex and mortality and whether menopause or the intensity of renal replacement therapy (RRT) modify this relationship in patients with severe septic acute kidney injury (AKI).

Post-hoc analysis of patients with sepsis included in the Randomized Evaluation of Normal versus Augmented Level renal replacement therapy (RENAL) trial.

Of 724 patients, 458 (63.3%) were male and 266 (36.7%) were female. The mean delivered effluent flow rate was 25.6 ± 7.4 ml/kg/h (80 ± 15% of prescribed dose) in males and 27.4 ± 7.6 ml/kg/h (83 ± 15% of prescribed dose) in females (p = .01). A total of 237 (51.7%) males and 118 (44.5%) females died within 90 days of randomization (p = .06). The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for 90-day mortality was significantly decreased in females as compared with males (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.96, p = .02). The relationship between sex and mortality was not significantly altered by menopausal status (adjusted P value for interaction 0.99) or by RRT intensity allocation (adjusted P value for interaction 0.27).

In a cohort of patients with sepsis and severe AKI, female sex was associated with improved survival. The relationship between sex and survival was not altered by menopausal status or RRT intensity.