Post-contrast acute kidney injury in a hospitalized population: short-, mid-, and long-term outcome and risk factors for adverse events

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prognosis including major adverse kidney events within 30 days (MAKE30) and 90-day and 1-year adverse outcome in hospitalized patients with post-contrast acute kidney injury (PC-AKI) to identify high-risk factors. METHODS: This retrospective observational study included 288 PC-AKI patients selected from 277,898 patients admitted to hospitals from January 2015 to December 2015. PC-AKI was defined according to the 2018 guideline of European Society of Urogenital Radiology. Multivariable Cox regression and logistic regression analyses were used to analyze main outcome and risk factors. RESULTS: PC-AKI patients with AKI stage ≥ 2 had much higher incidence of MAKE30 than those with AKI stage 1 (RR = 7.027, 95% CI 4.918–10.039). Persistent renal dysfunction, heart failure, central nervous system failure, baseline eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2), oliguria or anuria, blood urea nitrogen ≥ 7.14 mmol/L, respiratory failure, and shock were independent risk factors of 90-day or 1-year adverse prognosis (p < 0.05). Compared with transient renal dysfunction, PC-AKI patients with persistent renal dysfunction had a higher all-cause mortality rate (RR = 3.768, 95% CI 1.612–8.810; RR = 4.106, 95% CI 1.765–9.551) as well as combined endpoints of death, chronic kidney disease, or end-stage renal disease (OR = 3.685, 95% CI 1.628–8.340; OR = 5.209, 95% CI 1.730–15.681) within 90 days or 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: PC-AKI is not always a transient, benign creatininopathy, but can result in adverse outcome. AKI stage is independently correlated to MAKE30 and persistent renal dysfunction may exaggerate the risk of long-term adverse events. KEY POINTS: • PC-AKI can result in adverse outcome such as persistent renal dysfunction, dialysis, chronic kidney disease (CKD), end-stage renal disease (ESRD), or death. • AKI stage is independently correlated to MAKE30. • Persistent renal dysfunction may exaggerate the risk of long-term adverse events. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00330-020-06690-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.