It was already obvious that
if COVID-19 led to pneumonia,
and hospitalization, you were
likely to have some permanent
lung damage.
New information suggests
COVID-19 may cause
acute kidney damage too,
in roughly one third of
hospital cases.
Another reason for retired
people, and others over 65,
to be concerned.
New data are from
two health systems
in New York City.
The hospitals struggled
to keep up with dialysis
demands as they were
flooded with COVID-19 patients,
with a high rate of acute kidney
injury (AKI) among infected
patients.
In the first 1,000 patients
with COVID-19 at NewYork-
Presbyterian/Columbia
University Irving Medical
Center, 33.9% developed
acute kidney injury (AKI).
Of the 236
who ended up
in the ICU, 78%
developed AKI,
Ruijun Chen, MD,
and colleagues
reported.
In another study of 5,500
patients the rate was 36%
of those hospitalized,
and 89% of those in ICU
on ventilators -- quite a few
of these people died, so they
won't be in need of dialysis
or further care.
But some COVID-19 survivors
will need ongoing care and
won’t be able to work at
their former level.
Doctors are not sure
if the kidney injury is from
the virus or a side effect
of the treatments.
Any disease involving
mass clotting could cause
damage in most organs,
some of which can be
repaired, but some
will cause scarring that
may be permanent.
“Nothing like this
has ever been seen
in terms of the number
of people needing kidney
replacement therapy,”
said Dr. David S. Goldfarb,
chief of nephrology at the
New York campus of the
New York Harbor VA
Health Care System.