COVID-19 is a viral respiratory disease, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It’s pretty common – it’s causing an ongoing pandemic. But scientists are still finding out new things about it. COVID-19 sometimes leads to acute kidney injury (AKI), which can lead to serious illness or even death. Now scientists at the University of Queensland have discovered that millions of COVID-19 patients may have undiagnosed AKI.
AKI is fairly common in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 – current data suggest that 20-40% of people with COVID-19 severe enough to be hospitalized have AKI. However, the researchers say that the real number is likely to be twice as high.
COVID-19 is a respiratory viral illness, but it can also cause kidney damage. Image credit: ColnKurtz via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The main function of the kidneys is to filter blood. When they don’t do so effectively, the level of a compound called creatinine in the blood increases. And that’s one of the biological signs that tell doctors that something is wrong with a patient’s kidneys. However, to really see an increase in creatinine, you need to compare its levels before the patient is admitted to the hospital and some time after. The problem is that some patients are admitted to the hospital with damaged kidneys, which means their blood creatinine levels are already higher. That’s why the scientists measured the drop in creatinine levels, which often occurs after an initial increase – which suggests that AKI is twice as common in hospitalized COVID-19 patients as it has been. previously believed.
AKI can be a very dangerous condition, depending on how long it takes and whether the patient is treated. Obviously, AKI is more dangerous when it goes undiagnosed, which seems to be a fairly common problem during this pandemic. Dr Marina Wainstein, one of the study’s authors, said: “Although AKI has already begun to improve in the hospital, our study shows that these patients had an admission outcome. worse hospital stays and more likely to die than non-AKI patients”.
Scientists would like to see the definition and description of AKI improved. Diagnostic methods need to be improved. It is very important that AKI can also be easily detected in developing countries, where community-acquired AKI is also more common. Scientists hope to see improvements in the diagnosis of AKI so that the disease can be detected early and prevented the most severe consequences.
COVID-19 causes a lot of problems that are not directly related to the respiratory system. For example, a significant portion of COVID-19 patients have some degree of heart damage. And kidney damage. These results need to be understood so that we can face new outbreaks and pandemics armed with information.
Source: University of Queensland
