<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Acute kidney injury (AKI) in coronavirus infection disease (COVID-19) is associated with disease severity. We aimed to evaluate risk factors associated with AKI beyond COVID-19 severity. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A retrospective observational study of COVID-19 patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in Singapore. Logistic regression was used to evaluate associations between risk factors and AKI (based on Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes criteria). Dominance analysis was performed to evaluate the relative importance of individual factors. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Seven hundred seven patients were included. Median age was 46 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 29–57) and 57% were male with few comorbidities (93%, Charlson Comorbidity Index [CCI] &#x3c;1). AKI occurred in 57 patients (8.1%); 39 were in AKI stage 1 (68%), 9 in stage 2 (16%), and 9 in stage 3 (16%). Older age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01–1.07), baseline use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I) or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) (aOR 2.86; 95% CI: 1.20–6.83), exposure to vancomycin (aOR 5.84; 95% CI: 2.10–16.19), use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (aOR 3.04; 95% CI: 1.15–8.05), and severe COVID-19 with hypoxia (aOR 13.94; 95% CI: 6.07–31.98) were associated with AKI in the multivariable logistic regression model. The 3 highest ranked predictors were severe COVID-19 with hypoxia, vancomycin exposure, and age, accounting for 79.6% of the predicted variance (41.6, 23.1, and 14.9%, respectively) on dominance analysis. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Severe COVID-19 is independently associated with increased risk of AKI beyond premorbid conditions and age. Appropriate avoidance of vancomycin and NSAIDs are potentially modifiable means to prevent AKI in patients with COVID-19.

S ince late 2019, the global community has witnessed the unprecedented exponential increase in the number of cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel coronavirus disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus 2, which led to the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. 1 As of April 25, 2020, more than 2,700,000 cases and 187,000 deaths have been reported, 1 and the situation is rapidly evolving.Patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) are immunocompromised, frequently have multiple comorbid conditions, and thus are particularly vulnerable, with increased risk for the development of severe COVID-19 infection. In addition, the nature of community in-center hemodialysis (HD) poses challenges to containment measures when a dialysis patient develops COVID-19 infection. Furthermore, reports of transmission among minimally symptomatic or presymptomatic patients 2,3 explains in part why COVID-19 is far more challenging to contain. Acute kidney injury and need for kidney replacement therapy (KRT) have also been reported, 4 and delivering KRT in critically ill COVID-19-infected patients poses unique challenges. Overall, it must be recognized that dialysis patients are a highly susceptible population and that HD centers are a high-risk area, and therefore additional measures must be undertaken to mitigate the risk to dialysis patients in this pandemic.We report our current strategies for managing dialysis and share the practical issues faced when providing dialysis support for patients during this COVID-19 outbreak.

Background Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection has been associated with a hypercoagulable state with increased reports of thrombotic events. Acute kidney injury requiring dialysis is common in critically ill patients and circuit clotting compromises efficacy of treatment. This study aims to analyze the circuit life and circuit clotting during continuous kidney replacement therapy (CKRT) and intermittent hemodialysis in patients with and without COVID-19. Methods This is a single-center, retrospective cohort study in critically ill patients undergoing CKRT or intermittent hemodialysis between 1 February 2020 to 22 May 2020. Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) with COVID-19 infection and contemporary controls who tested negative were included. Co-primary outcomes were functional circuit life for patients on CKRT and all circuit clotting events for patients on CKRT and/or intermittent hemodialysis. Results Seventy CKRT circuits and 32 intermittent hemodialysis sessions for 12 COVID-19 cases and 22 CKRT circuits and 18 intermittent hemodialysis sessions for 15 controls were analyzed. CKRT circuit clotting was more common in the COVID-19 group compared to the control group (64% vs 36%, p = 0.02), despite higher anticoagulation use in the COVID-19 group (41% vs 14%, p = 0.02). Functional CKRT circuit life was similar in COVID-19 patients and controls (median 11 vs 12 h, p = 0.69). On Cox regression analysis, circuit clotting was similar with hazard ratio (HR) 1.90 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.89–4.04]; however, clotting was increased in COVID-19 patients after adjustment for anticoagulation use (HR: 3.31 [95% CI 1.49–7.33]). In patients with COVID-19, CKRT circuits with anticoagulation had a longer circuit life compared to CKRT circuits without anticoagulation (median 22 versus 7 h respectively, p <  0.001). Circuit clotting was similar in both groups undergoing intermittent hemodialysis. Conclusion Dialysis clotting amongst COVID-19 patients is increased despite more anticoagulation use and the hazard for clotting is greater especially after adjusting for anticoagulation use. Circuit life was suboptimal in COVID-19 patients on circuits without anticoagulation and therefore routine use of anticoagulation amongst COVID-19 patients should be considered whenever possible.

Background The need for kidney transplantation drives efforts to expand organ donation. The decision to accept organs from donors with acute kidney injury (AKI) can result in a clinical dilemma in the context of conflicting reports from published literature. Material and methods This observational study included all deceased donor kidney transplants performed in Australia and New Zealand between 1997 and 2017. The association of donor-AKI, defined according to KDIGO criteria, with all-cause graft failure was evaluated by multivariable Cox regression. Secondary outcomes included death-censored graft failure, death, delayed graft function (DGF) and acute rejection. Results The study included 10,101 recipients of kidneys from 5,774 deceased donors, of whom 1182 (12%) recipients received kidneys from 662 (11%) donors with AKI. There were 3,259 (32%) all-cause graft failures, which included 1,509 deaths with functioning graft. After adjustment for donor, recipient and transplant characteristics, donor AKI was not associated with all-cause graft failure (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.11, 95% CI 0.99–1.26), death-censored graft failure (HR 1.09, 95% CI 0.92–1.28), death (HR 1.15, 95% CI 0.98–1.35) or graft failure when death was evaluated as a competing event (sub-distribution hazard ratio [sHR] 1.07, 95% CI 0.91–1.26). Donor AKI was not associated with acute rejection but was associated with DGF (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.27, 95% CI 1.92–2.68). Conclusion Donor AKI stage was not associated with any kidney transplant outcome, except DGF. Use of kidneys with AKI for transplantation appears to be justified.