Acute kidney injury in critically ill adults: A cross-sectional study

Wide differences in the estimates of acute kidney injury (AKI) have been reported in studies from various parts of the world. Due to dearth of data from the region, we carried out the present study to assess the incidence and the associated factors for AKI in our critically ill population.

A prospective, observational study in critically ill adults who developed AKI was carried out. The diagnosis of AKI was attained by AKI Network (AKIN) criteria. The key details collected included details related to demographics, APCAHE score, concomitant diagnoses, whether mechanical ventilation was provided or not, radiological findings, drugs with potential nephrotoxicity, requirement of renal replacement therapy (RRT), whether recovered from AKI and time taken for recovery, duration of stay in the intensive care unit, and outcome (died/alive).

One hundred patients out of the total 560 with an incidence of 17.9% developed AKI. Forty-five had Stage 1, 22 had Stage 2, and 33 had Stage 3 AKI, and a significantly higher mortality was observed with Stage 3 AKIN Class compared to Stages 1 and 2. Two-thirds of the patients had septic shock, while 29 had contrast-induced nephropathy. Ninety-five patients received at least one drug with potential nephrotoxicity. Sixty-three patients recovered from AKI episodes. Only 29 patients underwent RRT of which 41% died.

We observed an incidence of 17.9% for AKI in our critically ill patients. The estimates from this study will serve as a baseline for future studies in the region.