Plos One: Kidney disease predicts the risk of hospitalization for COVID-19

December 4, 2020 /--- In a recent study, an analysis of Geisinger's electronic health records showed that chronic kidney disease was a major risk factor for hospitalization from COVID-19.
Geisinger researchers studied the health records of 12,971 people tested for COVID-19 in the Geisinger system between March 7 and May 19, of whom 1,604 were COVID positive and 354 needed hospitalization.
team analyzed records of associations between specific clinical conditions, including kidney, cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic conditions, and hospitalizations with COVID-19.
, chronic kidney disease is most closely associated with hospitalization, with PATIENT-19 patients with advanced kidney disease 11 times more likely to be admitted to hospital than those without kidney disease.
results were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
(Photo: www.pixabay.com) "Previous studies have identified a variety of health conditions associated with an increased risk of COVID hospitalization, including diabetes, heart failure, high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease.
what's important here is the severity of the risk associated with kidney disease," said Alex Chang, a Nephrologist at Geisinger and co-director of the Institute of Kidney Health.
these findings highlight the need to prevent COVID-19-related diseases in patients with kidney disease and other high-risk diseases.
It is not clear how underlying medical conditions increase the risk of COVID-19-related complications, but the study suggests that physiological stress caused by excessive inflammatory responses to COVID-19 infections may disrupt the stability of organs weakened by chronic diseases, or that organ damage caused by viruses may become a "second blow" to those organs. Dr Tooraj Mirshahi, associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Functional Genomics at
, said: "Our team has adopted a novel approach that is achieved by our extensive electronic health records, unique demographic data and integrated health systems.
we were able to conduct this study even though the number of COVID-19 cases was much smaller than in large hospitals in large cities.
" (Bioon.com) Source: Kidney disease leading risk factor for COVID-related hospitalization Original source: Matthew T. Oetjens et al, Electronic health record analysisses disease as the leading risk for hospitalization in confirmed COVID-19 patients, PLOS ONE (2020). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242182。