COVID-19 Pandemic Causing Acute Kidney Injury and Impact on Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease and Renal Transplantation

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has caused significant mortality and has been declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. The infection mainly presents as fever, cough, and breathing difficulty, and few patients develop very severe symptoms. The purpose of this review is to analyze the impact of the virus on the kidney. COVID-19 infection causes acute kidney injury (AKI) and is an independent risk factor for mortality. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors, direct viral damage, and immune-mediated damage play important roles in the pathogenesis. AKI in COVID-19 infection could be from the synergistic effect of virus-induced direct cytotropic effect and cytokine-induced systemic inflammatory response. AKI caused in the viral infection has been analyzed from the available epidemiological studies. The proportion of patients developing AKI is significantly higher when they develop severe disease. Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is the most used blood purification technique when needed. The impact of COVID-19 infection on chronic kidney disease (CKD) and renal transplant patients is also discussed in the manuscript. No vaccine has been developed against the 2019-nCoV virus to date. The critical aspect of management is supportive care. Several investigative drugs have been studied, drugs approved for other indications have been used, and several clinical trials are underway across the globe. Recently remdesivir has received emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA for use in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Prevention of the infection holds the key to management. The patients with underlying kidney problems and renal transplant patients are vulnerable to developing COVID-19 infection.