COVID-19 in CKD Patients: Report from India

COVID-19 is a novel acute infection that is mainly manifested as acute respiratory disease. Information on coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in CKD patients who are not on dialysis is very limited. We are reporting a single-center observational study on the effect of COVID-19 in CKD patients.

A single-center retrospective study with consecutive patients who had eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m² (CKD-EPI) admitted with COVID-19, from April to July 2020 were included.

A total of 30 patients were included in the study. Patients of CKD stage 5, 4 and 3 were 50%, 13.3%, and 36.6%, respectively. The mortality rate was 53.3%. Category wise, 9 were in mild; 3 in moderate, and 18 were in the severe COVID category. Twenty-five patients (83.3%) developed acute on CKD. Twenty patients (67%) required renal replacement therapy (RRT). The prognosis of patients who required RRT was poor. High LDH and IL-6 were significantly associated with mortality. Lymphopenia, present in 50% of cases was associated with fatal outcome. There was a 100% survival rate in mild to moderate cases and 11% in severe cases.

Mortality among hospitalized CKD patients is high.