Kidney problems from COVID-19 are particularly severe

Sudden kidney problems from severe COVID-19 appear to be worse, and longer-lasting, than kidney problems that develop in other seriously ill patients, a new study found.

Doctors at five hospitals in Connecticut and Rhode Island studied 182 patients with COVID-19-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) and 1,430 patients with AKI not associated with the coronavirus.

The COVID-19 patients had steeper declines in their kidneys’ ability to filter waste from the blood while hospitalized, the researchers reported.

In addition, among patients whose kidneys were still impaired at hospital discharge, those with COVID-19 were significantly less likely to have recovered to their pre-illness kidney status six months later, and their kidney function was predicted to decline over time at a faster rate than in the other patients. The data, published on Wednesday in JAMA Network Open, show that “acute kidney injury associated with COVID-19 has a worse prognosis than traditional acute kidney injury,” said coauthor Dr. Francis Perry Wilson of the Yale University School of Medicine.

“Those with COVID-19 associated acute kidney injuries should probably be monitored more closely than others once they are out of the hospital.”