Renal involvement has been implicated in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the related prevalence and prognosis were largely unknown. In this meta-analysis, we searched the literature from PubMed, Embase, through bioRxiv, and medRxiv until April 26, 2020. Studies reporting chronic kidney diseases (CKDs) and/or acute kidney injury (AKI) were included. Demographics, relevant data of disease severity, and patient's prognosis were extracted and aggregated. Twenty-one thousand one hundred sixtyfour patients from 52 peer-reviewed studies were included. Thirty-seven studies (n = 16,922) reported CKD in COVID-19 patients at diagnosis, and the pooled prevalence was 3.52% (95% CI, 1.98-5.48%; I 2 = 93%). Subgroup analysis showed that CKD prevalence was higher in severe cases [odds ratio (OR), 3.42; 95% CI 2.05-5.61; I 2 = 0%] compared to those with non-severe disease and deceased cases (6.46, 3.40-12.29; I 2 = 1%) compared with survivors. Pooled prevalence of CKD was lower in Chinese patients (2.56%; 95% CI, 1.79-3.47%; I 2 = 80%) compared to those outside of China (6.32%; 95% CI, 0.9-16.12%; I 2 = 93%) (p = 0.08). The summary estimates for AKI prevalence was 11.46% (95% CI, 6.93-16.94%). Patients with AKI had a higher prevalence of developing into severe cases (OR, 6.97; 95% CI, 3.53-13.75; I 2 = 0%) and mortality risk (45.79, 36.88-56.85; I 2 = 17%). The prevalence estimates of CKD or AKI were not significantly different from preprint publications (p > 0.05). Our study indicates that renal condition, either in CKD or AKI, is associated with COVID-19 prognosis, and taking care of such patients needs further awareness and investigations.

Background Thalassemia is a common genetic disorder. High prevalence of thalassemia is found in South China, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean regions. Thalassemia was thought to exist only in southern China, but an increasing number of cases from northern China have been recently reported. Methods During 2012 to 2017, suspected thalassemia people were detected for common α‐ and β‐thalassemia mutations by gap‐Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and reverse dot blot (RDB) analysis in Peking Union Medical College Hospital. One thousand and fifty‐nine people with thalassemia mutations were analyzed retrospectively. We picked mutated individuals who originally came from northern areas, and conducted telephone follow‐up survey in order to collect their ancestral information. Besides, we used “thalassemia”, “mutation”, and “Southeast Asian countries” as keywords to search the relevant studies in PubMed and Embase databases. Results All carriers included in our study were resided in northern China. Among them, 17.3% were native northerners and 82.7% were immigrants from southern China. Although substantial difference was found in α‐ and β‐thalassemia ratio and detailed spectrum of α‐ and β‐globin mutation spectrum between our data and data obtained from a previous meta‐analysis literature focused on southern China, the most common gene mutations were the same. Similar β‐thalassemia mutation spectrum was found among Thai, Malaysian Chinese, and Guangdong people, however, no other similarities in gene profile were found between Chinese and other ethnic groups in Southeast Asia. Conclusion Chinese people in different areas had similar gene mutation, whereas they had significantly different mutation spectrums from other ethnic groups in Southeast Asia.

No abstract