Survival and predictive factors in dialysis patients with COVID-19 in Japan: a nationwide cohort study

The Japanese Association of Dialysis Physicians, the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy, and the Japanese Society of Nephrology jointly established COVID-19 Task Force Committee and began surveying the number of newly infected patients.

This registry of the COVID-19 Task Force Committee was used to collect data of dialysis patients; a total of 1010 dialysis patients with COVID-19 were included in the analysis. Overall survival of patients was investigated with stratification by age group, complication status, and treatment. In addition, predictive factors for mortality were also investigated. The overall survival was estimated by Kaplan-Meier methods and compared by using log-rank test. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify the risk factor of mortality. For all statistical analyses, p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

The mortality risk was increased with age (p < 0.001). The mortality risk was significantly higher in patients with peripheral arterial disease (HR: 1.49, 95% CI 1.05-2.10) and significantly lower in patients who were treated with remdesivir (HR: 0.60, 95% CI 0.37-0.98). Multivariate analysis showed increased risk of mortality with increment in BMI, and increment in CRP, and decreased risk with increment in albumin.

Dialysis patients have a high severity of illness and a high risk of mortality in cases of COVID-19. Treatment with remdesivir might be effective in shortening the duration of hospitalization and reducing the risk of mortality.