ACUTE KIDNEY INJURY IN CRITICALLY ILL PATIENTS WITH COVID-19

A RETROSPECTIVE SINGLE-CENTER STUDY

Abstract

Aim: To identify the incidence and risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients with Covid-19 admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective, observational and quantitative study, carried out with critically ill patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to the intensive care unit of a public hospital, between March and July 2020. Results: The sample consisted of 112 patients, with the incidence of AKI being 50.9% (n= 57) and 17% (n= 19) requiring renal replacement therapy. Regarding the main risk factors, it was found that patients with AKI were older (64 versus 53 years, p-value <0.01), hypertension (61.4% versus 30.9%; p-value < 0.01), fever (38.6% versus 20%; p-value < 0.01), need for invasive mechanical ventilation (87.7% versus 21.8%), use of vasoactive drugs (75.4% versus 21.8%, p-value < 0.01), secondary infection (59.6% versus 16.4%; p-value < 0.01) and sepsis (26.3% versus 3.6%; p -value < 0.01) more frequently, when compared with patients without AKI. Furthermore, upon admission to the ICU, patients with AKI had significantly higher serum creatinine, urea and glucose levels. Conclusions: patients diagnosed with Covid-19 admitted to the ICU have a high incidence of AKI and that the factors associated with its occurrence are related to demographic characteristics, clinical status upon admission to the unit, as well as the complications evident during the stay in the ICU.