Clinical Profile and Outcome of Haemodialysis in Patients With COVID-19 – A Single Centre Experience

Introduction Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing COVID-19 disease is the third coronavirus to have emerged in the last 20 years. The COVID-19 infection causes more severe illness in patients with comorbid diseases, especially in patients with diabetes, hypertension and kidney failure. Methods This is a retrospective study using electronic records and laboratory data of adult patients hospitalised at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Patna between May 1st, 2020 and March 31st, 2021, who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and needed haemodialysis. The demographic characteristics, co-morbidities, symptoms, clinical course, laboratory parameters, and treatments were recorded. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical profile and outcome of patients on hemodialysis with COVID-19 infection. Results The study included 261 COVID-19 patients who needed haemodialysis. The most common symptoms on admission were fever (72.8%), cough (64.3%) and dyspnoea (46.6%). The mean age was 58.4 +/-15 years. A total of 195 patients (74.7%) were male. The most common co-morbid condition was hypertension (85.1%) followed by diabetes (71.9%). A total of 118 (45.2) patients had acute on chronic kidney disease (CKD), 40 (15.3) were on maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) and 103 (39.5) were having acute kidney injury (AKI). Eight patients were renal transplant recipients. At presentation, 183 (70.1%) patients were having mild to moderately severe infection and 78 (29.9%) patients were having severe disease. A total of 213 patients required ICU admissions, 186 (75.3%) of whom required invasive ventilation. Overall mortality was 66% (172/261) and the rest were discharged. Conclusion The study suggests that COVID-19 disease has a significantly more severe course and poorer outcome in patients requiring haemodialysis.