#5177 Covid-19 in Elderly Chronic Hemodialysis Patients: Predictors of Mortality

Abstract

Background and Aims Studies have shown that the incidence of severe COVID-19 pneumonia is higher in elderly patients and especially those with comorbidities including chronic kidney disease. The aim of our study was to determine risk factors for mortality in elderly chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients. Method We conducted a cross-sectional, observational, and analytical study, in the dialysis unit of the internal medicine department at Charles Nicolle Hospital over an 11-month period from September 2020 to August 2021. We studied the correlation between mortality and the different epidemiological, clinical and biological data via the SPSS software. Results We included 59 patients, with a mean age of 73 years [65-93] and a gender ratio of 1. All patients had confirmed COVID-19 infection, chronic kidney failure and required regular HD since at least 3 months. One on four patients had a coronary artery disease, 55% were diabetics and 72% had hypertension. From the 19 patients who underwent chest scan, 68% had severe lesions. Emergency HD had to be conducted for 25% of the patients, mainly because of hyperkalemia. At least one ongoing HD session was interrupted for neurologic, hemodynamic or respiratory instability in 26% of the patients. Mortality rate was 58%. Data that were associated with mortality in the univariate study were oxygen needs (p<10-3), COVID-19 infection severity (p=0.007), and interruption of HD session (p<10-3). Low blood pH levels and high pCo2 levels were also correlated to mortality (p=0.032 and p=0.020). Predictors of mortality in multivariate analysis were high oxygen needs (OR=1.368; 95% CI [1.081-1.732]; P = .009), interruption of HD session (OR=1.426; 95% CI [1.070-1.846]; P = .014) and severe form of COVID-19 infection (OR=1.770; 95% CI [1.062-2.980]; P = .029). Conclusion According to these results, high oxygen needs, severity of COVID-19 infection and interruption of HD session represented risk factors of death in elderly patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis. As highlighted in previous studies, mortality rate in COVID-19 seems to be higher among elderly patients. However, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases were not identified as predictors of mortality in this sample of patients.