The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of COVID-19 disease in the French national population of dialysis patients, their course of illness and to identify the risk factors associated with mortality. Our study included all patients on dialysis recorded in the French REIN Registry in April 2020. Clinical characteristics at last follow-up and the evolution of COVID-19 illness severity over time were recorded for diagnosed cases (either suspicious clinical symptoms, characteristic signs on the chest scan or a positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) for SARS-CoV-2. A total of 1,621 infected patients were reported on the REIN registry from March 16th, 2020 to May 4th, 2020. Of these, 344 died. The prevalence of COVID-19 patients varied from less than 1% to 10% between regions. The probability of being a case was higher in males, patients with diabetes, those in need of assistance for transfer or treated at a self-care unit. Dialysis at home was associated with a lower probability of being infected as was being a smoker, a former smoker, having an active malignancy, or peripheral vascular disease. Mortality in diagnosed cases (21%) was associated with the same causes as in the general population. Higher age, hypoalbuminemia and the presence of an ischemic heart disease were statistically independently associated with a higher risk of death. Being treated at a selfcare unit was associated with a lower risk. Thus, our study showed a relatively low frequency of COVID-19 among dialysis patients contrary to what might have been assumed.

Between January 1, 1976, and December 31, 2002, histologic diagnosis of primary glomerular diseases (PGD) was made in 898 patients born and living at the time of diagnosis in a region of France, comprising 412,735 inhabitants, of whom 391,265 were aged from 10 to 85 years. The prevalence of PGD during a 75-year exposure to risk (10 to 85 years of age) was evaluated to 6.9 in 1000 (8.2 in 1000 males and 5.1 in 1000 females) during the 27-year period. The most common PGD was IgA nephropathy (IgAN) with a prevalence of 2.4 in 1000 (3.6 in 1000 males and 1.3 in 1000 females). The annual incidence of PGD was evaluated separately for two consecutive 10-years periods: period A (1976 to 1985), period B (1986 to 1995) and for one 7-year period: period C (1996 to 2002). Within each of these three periods, annual incidence of PGD was 89, 76, and 65 per million inhabitants. During this 27-year period, the annual incidences of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (GN) and membranous nephropathy were declining and the incidence of crescentic proliferative GN was strongly progressing, whereas annual incidence of nephrosis remained stable. The incidence of IgAN remained the same throughout the three periods: 28, 28, and 26 per million inhabitants. Whereas the incidence of IgAN was three- to fourfold higher in the adult aged from 20 to 59 years than in the elderly during the periods A (38 vs. 11 per million inhabitants) and B (37 vs. 12 per million inhabitants), the incidence became similar whatever age groups during the last period C (20 to 59 years, 25 per million inhabitants; 60 to 79 years, 27 per million inhabitants; and 80 years and over, 28 per million inhabitants. The stability of annual incidence according to period and age, which is demonstrated for the first time during the last period, provides a new evidence of a role for genetic factors in the pathogenesis of IgAN.

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