Unraveling the Epidemiology of Acute Kidney Injury Recovery

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication among hospitalized patients and is associated with significant long-term morbidity, including the development of major adverse kidney events such as kidney failure. By definition, AKI holds the promise of potential kidney recovery, yet clearly not all patients will recover, and some will develop worsening kidney function even after initial recovery. Being able to identify which patients with AKI will recover vs have persistent or future kidney complications is a critically important question, both for counseling patients and for determining appropriate care of AKI survivors. In this article, we review and describe the key factors associated with kidney function nonrecovery after AKI, some of which are modifiable and may be future targets for intervention. We also describe recent studies developing clinical risk scores to predict post-AKI kidney outcomes and their potential role in the clinical setting. Despite progress, there remains significant opportunity to improve our understanding of the epidemiology of AKI recovery.