Objectives: It is unclear whether patients with hypertension are more likely to be infected with SARS-COV-2 than the general population and whether there is a difference in the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia in patients who have taken ACEI/ARB drugs to lower blood pressure compared to those who have not. Methods: This observational study included data from all patients with clinically confirmed COVID-19 who were admitted to the Hankou Hospital, Wuhan, China between January 5 and March 8, 2020. Data were extracted from clinical and laboratory records. Follow-up was cutoff on March 8, 2020. Results: A total of 274 patients, 75 with hypertension and 199 without hypertension, were included in the analysis. Patients with hypertension were older and were more likely to have pre-existing comorbidities, including chronic renal insufficiency, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and cerebrovascular disease than patients without hypertension. Moreover, patients with hypertension tended to have higher positive COVID-19 PCR detection rates. Patients with hypertension who had previously taken ACEI/ARB drugs for antihypertensive treatment have an increased tendency to develop severe pneumonia after infection with SARS-COV-2 (P = 0.064). Conclusions: COVID-19 patients with hypertension were significantly older and were more likely to have underlying comorbidities, including chronic renal insufficiency, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and cerebrovascular disease. Patients with hypertension who had taken ACEI/ARB drugs for antihypertensive treatment have an increased tendency to develop severe pneumonia after infection with SARS-COV-2. In future studies, a larger sample size and multi-center clinical data will be needed to support our conclusions.

evaluated the association between changes in the incidence of AKI and COVID-19 disease and clinical outcomes by using logistic regression models. Results:A total of 287 patients, 55 with AKI and 232 without AKI, were included in the analysis.Compared to patients without AKI, AKI patients were older, predominantly male, and were more likely to present with hypoxia and have pre-existing hypertension and cerebrovascular disease. Moreover, AKI patients had higher levels of white blood cells, D-dimer, aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, a higher prevalence of hyperkalemia, lower lymphocyte counts, and higher chest computed tomographic scores. The incidence of stage 1 AKI was 14.3%, and the incidence of stage 2 or 3 AKI was 4.9%. Patients with AKI had substantially higher mortality. Conclusions:AKI is an important complication of COVID-19. Older age, male, multiple pre-existing comorbidities, lymphopenia, increased infection indicators, elevated D-dimer, and impaired heart and liver functions were the risk factors of AKI. AKI patients who progressed to stages 2 or 3 AKI had a higher mortality rate. Prevention of AKI and monitoring of kidney function is very important for

Background: Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI) is a common problem in critically ill patients and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Early prediction of the survival of hospitalized patients with SA-AKI is necessary, but a reliable and valid prediction model is still lacking. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis based on a training cohort of 2,066 patients enrolled from the Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care Database III (MIMIC III) and a validation cohort of 102 patients treated at Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and multivariate Cox regression analysis were used to identify predictors for survival. Areas under the ROC curves (AUC), the concordance index (C-index), and calibration curves were used to evaluate the efficiency of the prediction model (SAKI) in both cohorts. Results: The overall mortality of SA-AKI was approximately 18%. Age, admission type, liver disease, metastatic cancer, lactate, BUN/SCr, admission creatinine, positive culture, and AKI stage were independently associated with survival and combined in the SAKI model. The C-index in the training and validation cohorts was 0.73 and 0.72. The AUC in the training cohort was 0.77, 0.72, and 0.70 for the 7-day, 14-day, and 28-day probability of in-hospital survival, respectively, while in the external validation cohort, it was 0.83, 0.73, and 0.67. SAPSII and SOFA scores showed poorer performance. Calibration curves demonstrated a good consistency. Conclusions: Our SAKI model has predictive value for in-hospital mortality of SA-AKI in critically ill patients and outperforms generic scores. KEYWORDS-Acute kidney injury, critically ill patients, prediction model, sepsis ABBREVIATIONS-AKI-Acute kidney injury; AUC-Area under the receiver operator characteristic curves; BCR-Blood urea nitrogen/serum creatinine radio; CI-Confidence interval; C-index-Concordance index; HR-Hazard radio; ICU-Intensive care unit; IQR-Interquartile range; KDIGO-Kidney disease-improving global outcomes; LASSO-Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator; MAP-Mean arterial pressure; MIMIC-Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care Database III; RRT-Renal replacement therapy; SA-AKI-Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury; SAKI-The prediction model for assessing prognosis in critically ill patients with sepsis-associated acute kidney injury; SAPSII-Simplified Acute Physiology Score II; SCr-Serum creatinine; SOFA-Sequential Organ Failure Assessment

Objectives: Our ex vivo study was designed to determine the sequestration of teicoplanin, tigecycline, micafungin, meropenem, polymyxin B, caspofungin, cefoperazone sulbactam, and voriconazole in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) circuits.Methods: Simulated closed-loop ECMO circuits were prepared using 2 types of blood-primed ECMO. After the circulation was stabilized, the study drugs were injected into the circuit. Blood samples were collected at 2, 5, 15, 30 min, 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h after injection. Drug concentrations were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Control groups were stored at 4°C after 3, 6, 12, and 24 h immersing in a water bath at 37°C to observe spontaneous drug degradation.Results: Twenty-six samples were analyzed. The average drug recoveries from the ECMO circuits and control groups at 24 h relative to baseline were 67 and 89% for teicoplanin, 100 and 145% for tigecycline, 67 and 99% for micafungin, 45 and 75% for meropenem, 62 and 60% for polymyxin B, 83 and 85% for caspofungin, 79 and 98% for cefoperazone, 75 and 87% for sulbactam, and 60 and 101% for voriconazole, respectively. Simple linear regression showed no significant correlation between lipophilicity (r2 = 0.008, P = 0.225) or the protein binding rate (r2 = 0.168, P = 0.479) of drugs and the extent of drug loss in the ECMO circuits.Conclusions: In the two ECMO circuits, meropenem and voriconazole were significantly lost, cefoperazone was slightly lost, while tigecycline and caspofungin were not lost. Drugs with high lipophilicity were lost more in the Maquet circuit than in the Sorin circuit. This study needs more in vivo studies with larger samples for further confirmation, and it suggests that therapeutic drug concentration monitoring should be strongly considered during ECMO.