Renal complications in COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Purpose: Emerging data suggest that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has extrapulmonary manifestations but its renal manifestations are not clearly defined. We aimed to evaluate renal complications of COVID-19 and their incidence using a systematic meta-analysis.

Design: Observational studies reporting renal complications in COVID-19 patients were sought from MEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane Library from 2019 to June 2020. The nine-star Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to evaluate methodological quality. Incidence with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled using random-effects models.

Results: We included 22 observational cohort studies comprising of 17,391 COVID-19 patients. Quality scores of studies ranged from 4 to 6. The pooled prevalence of pre-existing chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage kidney disease was 5.2% (2.8-8.1) and 2.3% (1.8-2.8), respectively. The pooled incidence over follow-up of 2-28 days was 12.5% (10.1-15.0) for electrolyte disturbance (e.g. hyperkalaemia), 11.0% (7.4-15.1) for acute kidney injury (AKI) and 6.8% (1.0-17.0) for renal replacement therapy (RRT). In subgroup analyses, there was a higher incidence of AKI in US populations and groups with higher prevalence of pre-existing CKD.

Conclusions: Frequent renal complications reported among hospitalized COVID-19 patients are electrolyte disturbance, AKI and RRT. Aggressive monitoring and management of these renal complications may help in the prediction of favourable outcomes. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO 2020: CRD42020186873 KEY MESSAGES COVID-19 affects multiple organs apart from the respiratory system; however, its renal manifestations are not clearly defined. In this systematic meta-analysis of 22 observational cohort studies, the prevalence of pre-existing chronic kidney disease (CKD) in COVID-19 patients was 5.2%. The most frequent renal complication was electrolyte disturbance (particularly hyperkalaemia) with an incidence of 12.5% followed by acute kidney injury (AKI) with an incidence of 11.0%; US populations and groups with higher prevalence of CKD had higher incidence of AKI.

Keywords: COVID-19; Renal complications; acute kidney injury; meta-analysis.

Figure 1.

Selection of studies included in the meta-analysis.

Figure 2.

Prevalence of pre-existing renal conditions in COVID-19 patients. B: black; CI: confidence interval (bars); CKD: chronic kidney disease; W: white.

Figure 3.

Incidence of renal complications in COVID-19 patients. AKI: acute kidney injury; CI: confidence interval (bars).

Figure 4.

Incidence of acute kidney injury in COVID-19 patients, by clinically relevant characteristics. AKI: acute kidney injury; CI: confidence interval (bars); CKD: chronic kidney disease; *p value for meta-regression.