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Patients with kidney disease are not only at a higher risk of the severe course of COVID-19. The risk of death due to SARS-CoV-2 infection also increases dangerously in patients. This was proved by an extensive study by scientists from Imperial College London. Why can kidney problems have such dramatic consequences for those infected with the coronavirus?
- Kidney disease and COVID-19 acute kidney damage increase the risk of complications in people infected with coronavirus
- Scientists have established that the condition of the kidneys clearly affects the mortality rate of those infected with the coronavirus
- For more up-to-date information on the coronavirus epidemic, visit the TvoiLokony home page
Kidney Disease and COVID-19. What’s the relationship?
Patients suffering from the so-called comorbidities (the term multi-morbidity is also used). We talk about this condition when they have two or more chronic diseases at the same time.
One disease known to increase the risk of complications is chronic kidney disease (CKD). A few months ago, COVID-19 was also discovered to damage the kidneys. To make matters worse, a recent study by British scientists at Imperial College London found that kidney ailments significantly increase the risk of dying from SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection. So is acute kidney injury (AKI) arising from COVID-19. What are AKI and CKD?
- Co-morbidities – what does this mean?
When the condition of the kidney deteriorates gradually over a period of several months or years, it is called chronic kidney disease (CKD). This problem most often affects older people. The disease has five stages. In the early stages (1 and 2), symptoms are usually not felt, and in the later stages one may develop high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease. In the last stage, end-stage failure is referred to as dialysis or transplantation.
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In turn, acute kidney injury (AKI) is a sudden impairment of their functioning, it occurs in just a few days. The causes of acute damage may be several, including ischemia, drug action, urinary outflow disorder and COVID-19.
- The five worst kidney diseases
Kidney disease and the risk of death from COVID-19. What have the scientists discovered?
Researchers at Imperial College London set out to investigate the relationship between AKI and CKD and the treatment outcomes of COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units. The condition of 372 patients was analyzed, their average age was 60 years, over 70%. the sick were men.
It turned out that as much as 58 percent in the study group. of patients suffered from some kind of kidney damage, and 13 percent. previously had a CKD. 42 percent patients had no kidney problems. In 45 percent developed AKI while in hospital. We know this because these patients did not have kidney disease before, which means that they developed AKI in the course of COVID-19.
- What do the kidneys do and what do kidney diseases manifest?
The analyzes showed that the condition of the kidneys clearly influenced the mortality. Of those without acute injury and chronic kidney disease, 21 percent died. patients. Meanwhile, 19 percent of patients with AKI caused by COVID-48 died. people. Among patients with previous chronic kidney disease, in stages one to four, the mortality rate was as high as 50%.
In the group of patients with end-stage renal disease (stage five) who had previously received dialysis, the mortality rate was 47%. As many as 86 percent were dying. patients with transplanted kidneys.
Researchers were surprised by the similar mortality rates among people with end-stage renal disease and patients with less advanced kidney disease and AKI.
Scientists pay attention to the limitations accompanying their study. Well, it was attended by patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit at the height of the last wave of the epidemic. So, patients with end-stage renal disease who were too bad to be admitted to such a unit might have been missed.
Why is kidney disease contributing to death from COVID-19?
The causes of the increased mortality in patients with kidney disease are not fully understood. However, there are several theories.
Scientists suspect that the virus can cause inflammation in the blood vessels of the kidneys, similar to what happens in the lungs. Other studies show that the kidneys are directly damaged by an overreaction of the immune system (the so-called cytokine storm). It is also possible to die of kidney tissue associated with multi-organ failure caused by COVID-19.
“ Our analyzes show that kidney disease and failure in people critically ill with COVID-19 are common and associated with higher mortality. However, there are important differences between the stages of acute and chronic kidney disease. They concern the mortality of patients with COVID-19, and people after kidney transplants are particularly vulnerable – summarize scientists from Imperial College London.
- “The silent and insidious killer” who destroys our health. How is kidney failure diagnosed? [WE EXPLAIN]
Researchers note that special attention is needed in patients with COVID-19 and any form of kidney disease or damage. It is also necessary to take all measures that will make it possible to stop the development of the disease or damage and thus reduce the mortality rate in this group of patients.
Diseases that increase the risk of complications from COVID-19
Kidney disease is not the only condition that increases the risk of complications and the severe course of COVID-19. People with cardiovascular diseases, arterial hypertension, and chronic lung diseases are also at increased risk. such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
This group also includes people with impaired immunity, people suffering from cancer, haematological patients struggling with type 2 diabetes.
It is also known that the severe course of COVID-19 threatens obese people, regardless of age. Moreover, obesity worsens the prognosis even in the absence of other diseases, although of course it is even more dangerous in people with diabetes, hypertension, lung diseases, and who smoke cigarettes.
- The coronavirus affects not only the lungs. It affects all organs
Researchers explain that obesity harms you in several ways. One of them is the limited ability to produce interferons (proteins secreted by defense cells and necessary to inhibit viral replication) and antibodies. In addition, adipose tissue acts as a storehouse of viruses, so they can survive longer in the body. In addition, there are constant, weak inflammations that accompany obesity, which can also worsen the course of the disease.
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