Objective To determine the incidence of and risk-factors for development of acute kidney injury (AKI) and investigate the association between AKI and mortality in patients hospitalized with Covid-19. Patients and Methods This retrospective case series includes the first 370 patients consecutively hospitalized with confirmed Covid-19 illness between March 10, 2020 and May 13, 2020, at a 242-bed teaching hospital. To determine independent association between demographic factors, comorbidities and AKI incidence, multivariable-logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios adjusted for clinical covariates. Results Median age of patients was 71 (59–82) years and 44.3% were female. Patients with AKI were significantly older with a higher comorbidity-burden and mortality-rate (58.1% vs 19.6%, p<.001) when compared to those without AKI. Increasing age, chronic kidney disease, hyperlipidemia and being of African-American descent showed higher odds of AKI. Patients with AKI had significantly higher odds of mortality when compared to patients without AKI, and this effect was proportional to the stage of AKI. Increasing age and acute respiratory distress syndrome also revealed higher adjusted odds of mortality. Conclusion AKI is a common complication among hospitalized Covid-19 patients. We found significantly higher odds of AKI with increasing age, among hyperlipidemics and patients with chronic kidney disease and among African-Americans. We demonstrate an independent association between AKI and mortality with increasingly higher odds of mortality from progressively worsening renal failure in hospitalized Covid-19 patients.

Introduction Several comorbid conditions have been identified as risk factors in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, there is a dearth of data describing the impact of COVID-19 infection in patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis (ESRD-HD). Methods This retrospective case series analyzed 362 adult patients consecutively hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 illness between March 12, 2020, and May 13, 2020, at a teaching hospital in the New York City metropolitan area. The primary outcome was severe pneumonia as defined by the World Health Organization. Secondary outcomes were the (1) the Combined Outcome of Acute respiratory distress syndrome or in-hospital Death (COAD), and (2) need for high levels of oxygen supplementation (HiO 2). Results Patients with ESRD-HD had lower odds for poor outcomes including severe pneumonia [odds ratio (OR) 0.4, confidence interval (CI) 0.2-0.9, p=.04], HiO 2 [OR 0.3, CI (0.1-0.8), p=.02] and COAD [OR 0.4, CI (0.2-1.05), p=.06], when compared to patients without ESRD. In contrast, higher odds for severe pneumonia, COAD and HiO 2 were seen with advancing age. African Americans were over-represented in the hospitalized patient cohort, when compared to their representation in the community (35% vs 18%). Hispanics had higher odds for severe illness and HiO 2 when compared to Caucasians. Conclusions Patients with ESRD-HD had a milder course of illness with a lower likelihood of severe pneumonia and a lesser need for aggressive oxygen supplementation when compared to patients not on chronic dialysis. The lower odds of severe illness in ESRD-HD patients might have a pathophysiologic basis and need to be further explored.

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Lupus nephritis is a life-threatening manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This is commonly suspected when lupus patients present with elevated serum creatinine levels. But it is important to be aware that even patients with advanced disease in the kidney from SLE can have normal renal function, thus requiring a high index of suspicion. We present the case of a patient who presented with nonspecific musculoskeletal symptoms and was diagnosed with SLE. He also had nephrotic range proteinuria but his serum creatinine was normal. A renal biopsy revealed diffuse proliferative crescentic lupus nephritis. We have reviewed the literature for correlation between crescents; a sign of severe glomerular damage and creatinine levels.