Maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients are at increased risk for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this study was to describe clinical, laboratory, and radiologic characteristics and ...determinants of mortality in a large group of MHD patients hospitalized for COVID-19.
This multicenter, retrospective, observational study collected data from 47 nephrology clinics in Turkey. Baseline clinical, laboratory and radiological characteristics, and COVID-19 treatments during hospitalization, need for intensive care and mechanical ventilation were recorded. The main study outcome was in-hospital mortality and the determinants were analyzed by Cox regression survival analysis.
Of 567 MHD patients, 93 (16.3%) patients died, 134 (23.6%) patients admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) and 91 of the ones in ICU (67.9%) needed mechanical ventilation. Patients who died were older (median age, 66 57-74 vs. 63 52-71 years, p = 0.019), had more congestive heart failure (34.9% versus 20.7%, p = 0.004) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (23.6% versus 12.7%, p = 0.008) compared to the discharged patients. Most patients (89.6%) had radiological manifestations compatible with COVID-19 pulmonary involvement. Median platelet (166 × 10
per mm
versus 192 × 10
per mm
, p = 0.011) and lymphocyte (800 per mm
versus 1000 per mm
, p < 0.001) counts and albumin levels (median, 3.2 g/dl versus 3.5 g/dl, p = 0.001) on admission were lower in patients who died. Age (HR: 1.022 95% CI, 1.003-1.041, p = 0.025), severe-critical disease clinical presentation at the time of diagnosis (HR: 6.223 95% CI, 2.168-17.863, p < 0.001), presence of congestive heart failure (HR: 2.247 95% CI, 1.228-4.111, p = 0.009), ferritin levels on admission (HR; 1.057 95% CI, 1.006-1.111, p = 0.028), elevation of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (HR; 3.909 95% CI, 2.143-7.132, p < 0.001) and low platelet count (< 150 × 10
per mm
) during hospitalization (HR; 1.864 95% CI, 1.025-3.390, p = 0.041) were risk factors for mortality.
Hospitalized MHD patients with COVID-19 had a high mortality rate. Older age, presence of heart failure, clinical severity of the disease at presentation, ferritin level on admission, decrease in platelet count and increase in AST level during hospitalization may be used to predict the mortality risk of these patients.
The data regarding primary FSGS (pFSGS) from different parts of the world differ. While the prevalence of pFSGS has been increasing in Western countries like the USA, it follows an inconsistent trend ...in Europe and Asia and a decreasing trend in Far Eastern countries such as China in the last two decades. There are undetermined factors to explain those national and geographic discrepancies. Herein, we aimed to reveal the current prevalence with clinical and histopathological characteristics of pFSGS in Turkish adults. This study includes the biopsy-proven pFSGS patients data recorded between 2009 and 2019, obtained from the national multicenter primary glomerulonephritis registry system of the Turkish Society of Nephrology Glomerular Diseases (TSN-GOLD) database. 850 of the 3875 primer glomerulonephritis patients(21.9%) have pFSGS. The mean age is 40.5 ± 14.2 and 435 (51.2%) of patients are male. Nephrotic syndrome is the most common biopsy indication (59.2%). 32.6% of patients have hematuria, 15.2% have leukocyturia and 7.8% have both. Serum creatinine, albumin, and proteinuria are 1.0 mg/dL (IQR = 0.7-1.4) mg/dl, 3.4 ± 0.9 g/dl, 3400 mg/day(IQR, 1774-5740), respectively. Females have lower mean arterial pressure (- 2.2 mmHg), higher eGFR (+ 10.0 mL/min/1.73 m
), and BMI (+ 1.6 kg/m
) than males. Thickened basal membrane(76.6%) and mesangial proliferation (53.5%) on light microscopy are the major findings after segmental sclerosis. IgM (32.7%) and C3 (32.9%) depositions are the most common findings on immunofluorescence microscopy. IgM positivity is related to lower eGFR, serum albumin, and higher proteinuria. The prevalence of pFSGS is stable although slightly increasing in Turkish adults. The characteristics of the patients are similar to those seen in Western countries.
BackgroundThe increase in serum phosphorus level is an independent risk factor for mortality in patients with chronic renal failure or undergoing dialysis due to end-stage renal disease. Proton pump ...inhibitors (PPI) are the general name given to agents used to suppress stomach acid. In this study, the clinical benefit of using PPIs in addition to drugs used for phosphorus control was investigated.Methods153 patients with end-stage renal disease were included in the study. The data of the patients who had been on hemodialysis for at least 6 months and using calcium acetate for at least 1 month were recorded in the SPSS 21 program. The patients were analyzed in two groups according to whether they used PPI or not. Anamnesis, patient follow-up, laboratory, and treatment forms collected from hemodialysis centers were used.ResultsOf the 153 patients in the study, 49% were males and the mean age was 65.11±11.23. The mean duration of patients on dialysis was 48.5 months. Hypertension was found to be the most common comorbidity with 75.8% prevalence among the patients. The mean phosphorus levels of the patients using calcium acetate together with PPI were found to be approximately 1.2 mg/dl lower (p= 0.000).ConclusionIt should be taken into account that the use of PPI together with calcium acetate, which is still common as a phosphorus binder in developing countries, can contribute to controlling phosphorus levels.
Purpose
There are only a few small studies investigating chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-P) in pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD). None of these has taken into account the ...associations of CKD-P with clinical features and laboratory data. We aimed to study prevalence of and clinical and laboratory associates of CKD-P in pre-dialysis CKD patients.
Methods
A total of 402 consecutive stage 2–5 pre-dialysis CKD patients were included in this cross-sectional study. Pruritus was scored based on visual analog scale (VAS). Demographic and clinical features, comorbidities, smoking status and current medication use were recorded. 25 (OH) Vitamin D, urea, creatinine, uric acid, calcium, phosphorus, intact parathyroid hormone (PTH), magnesium, albumin, C-reactive protein (CRP), complete blood count and differential and other laboratory tests were studied for each participant.
Results
This is the largest study conducted in pre-dialysis population with respect to pruritus and associated factors. The prevalence of CKD-P was 18.9 %. Hemoglobin level was significantly lower, and eosinophil count and frequency of xerosis cutis were significantly higher in patients with CKD-P than those of patients without pruritus. However, there was no statistical difference between the pruritus and nonpruritus groups regarding vitamin D, PTH, calcium, phosphorus, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and CRP.
Conclusions
CKD-P was almost present in one in every five pre-dialysis CKD patients. Interestingly, the prevalence was not affected by the stage of the CKD. For the first time, our results showed a significant association between CKD-P and peripheral eosinophilia and anemia. Besides this, xerosis cutis seems a determinant factor for CKD-P and its severity.
We aimed to present the demographic characteristics, clinical presentation, and outcomes of our multicenter cohort of adult KTx recipients with COVID-19.
We conducted a multicenter, retrospective ...study using data of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 collected from 34 centers in Turkey. Demographic characteristics, clinical findings, laboratory parameters (hemogram, CRP, AST, ALT, LDH, and ferritin) at admission and follow-up, and treatment strategies were reviewed. Predictors of poor clinical outcomes were analyzed. The primary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and the need for ICU admission. The secondary outcome was composite in-hospital mortality and/or ICU admission.
One hundred nine patients (male/female: 63/46, mean age: 48.4 ± 12.4 years) were included in the study. Acute kidney injury (AKI) developed in 46 (42.2%) patients, and 4 (3.7%) of the patients required renal replacement therapy (RRT). A total of 22 (20.2%) patients were admitted in the ICU, and 19 (17.4%) patients required invasive mechanical ventilation. 14 (12.8%) of the patients died. Patients who were admitted in the ICU were significantly older (age over 60 years) (38.1% vs 14.9%, p = 0.016). 23 (21.1%) patients reached to composite outcome and these patients were significantly older (age over 60 years) (39.1% vs. 13.9%; p = 0.004), and had lower serum albumin (3.4 g/dl 2.9-3.8 vs. 3.8 g/dl 3.5-4.1, p = 0.002), higher serum ferritin (679 μg/L 184-2260 vs. 331 μg/L 128-839, p = 0.048), and lower lymphocyte counts (700/μl 460-950 vs. 860 /μl 545-1385, p = 0.018). Multivariable analysis identified presence of ischemic heart disease and initial serum creatinine levels as independent risk factors for mortality, whereas age over 60 years and initial serum creatinine levels were independently associated with ICU admission. On analysis for predicting secondary outcome, age above 60 and initial lymphocyte count were found to be independent variables in multivariable analysis.
Over the age of 60, ischemic heart disease, lymphopenia, poor graft function were independent risk factors for severe COVID-19 in this patient group. Whereas presence of ischemic heart disease and poor graft function were independently associated with mortality.
As in many countries, there is neither a surveillance system nor a study to reveal the hemodialysis (HD) related infection rates in Turkey. We aimed to investigate the infection rate among HD ...outpatients and implement CDC's surveillance system. A multicenter prospective surveillance study is performed to investigate the infection rate among HD patients. CDC National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) dialysis event (DE) protocol is adopted for definitions and reporting. During April 2016-April 2018, 9 centers reported data. A total of 199 DEs reported in 10,035 patient-months, and the overall DE rate was 1.98 per 100 patient-months. Risk of blood culture positivity is found to be 17.6 times higher when hemodialysis was through a tunneled catheter than through an arteriovenous fistula. DE rate was significantly lower in patients educated about the care of their vascular access site. Staphylococcus aureus was the most causative microorganism among mortal patients. Outcomes of DEs were hospitalization (73%), loss of vascular access (18.2%), and death (7.7%). This first surveillance study revealed the baseline status of HD related infections in Turkey and showed that CDC National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) DE surveillance system can be easily implemented even in a high workload dialysis unit and be adopted as a nationwide DE surveillance program.
The largest data on the epidemiology of primary glomerular diseases (PGDs) are obtained from the databases of countries or centers. Here, we present the extended results of the Primary Glomerular ...Diseases Study of the Turkish Society of Nephrology Glomerular Diseases (TSN-GOLD) Working Group.
Data of patients who underwent renal biopsy and received the diagnosis of PGD were recorded in the database prepared for the study. A total of 4399 patients from 47 centers were evaluated between May 2009 and May 2019. The data obtained at the time of kidney biopsy were analyzed. After the exclusion of patients without light microscopy and immunofluorescence microscopy findings, a total of 3875 patients were included in the study.
The mean age was 41.5 ± 14.9 years. 1690 patients were female (43.6%) and 2185 (56.3%) were male. Nephrotic syndrome was the most common biopsy indication (51.7%). This was followed by asymptomatic urinary abnormalities (18.3%) and nephritic syndrome (17.8%). The most common PGD was IgA nephropathy (25.7%) followed by membranous nephropathy (25.6%) and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (21.9%). The mean total number of glomeruli per biopsy was 17 ± 10. The mean baseline systolic blood pressure was 130 ± 20 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure was 81 ± 12 mmHg. The median proteinuria, serum creatinine, estimated GFR, and mean albumin values were 3300 (IQR: 1467-6307) mg/day, 1.0 (IQR: 0.7-1.6) mg/dL, 82.9 (IQR: 47.0-113.0) mL/min and 3.2 ± 0.9 g/dL, respectively.
The distribution of PGDs in Turkey has become similar to that in other European countries. IgA nephropathy diagnosed via renal biopsy has become more prevalent compared to membranous nephropathy.