Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep;5(9):1416-1421.
doi: 10.1016/j.ekir.2020.07.010. Epub 2020 Jul 18.

The Cumulative Rate of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Chinese Hemodialysis Patients

Xin Xu  1   2 , Sheng Nie  1   2 , Jian Sun  1   2 , Yaozhong Kong  3 , Min Liang  1   2 , Dongfeng Li  4 , Tean Ma  5 , Jiaqing Peng  6 , Shikui Gao  7 , Yong Shao  8 , Yan Zha  9 , Gangyi Peng  10 , Chanjun Ren  11 , Ailong Huang  12 , Fan Fan Hou  1   2   13
Affiliations

The Cumulative Rate of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Chinese Hemodialysis Patients

Xin Xu et al. Kidney Int Rep. 2020 Sep.

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: There is a paucity of information regarding severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. We aimed to estimate the cumulative attack rate of SARS-CoV-2 in hemodialysis patients in China using a serological test.

Methods: We enrolled all hemodialysis patients from 8 hemodialysis facilities in Honghu and Jingzhou of Hubei province and Guangzhou and Foshan of Guangdong province in China. We screened these patients for SARS-CoV-2 infection by both a reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for viral RNA and a serological test for IgG and IgM antibodies. Data on demographics and clinical characteristics were collected via case report forms. We also enrolled the health care workers from the participating hospitals and compared the seropositive rate between hemodialysis patients and health care workers in the same region.

Results: Among 1542 hemodialysis patients, 5 (0.32%) and 51 (3.3%) were tested positive by the RT-PCR test and the serological test, respectively. The seropositive rate in Hubei (3.6%) was higher than that in Guangdong (2.8%), although the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.5). Most of the seropositive patients were asymptomatic. Independent risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection were being older than 65 years, having manifestation of lung infection in imaging examinations, and having a lower level of serum albumin. In comparison, the seropositive rate in 3205 health care workers was 1.2%，which was significantly lower than that observed in the hemodialysis patients (P < .001).

Conclusion: The cumulative rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hemodialysis patients in China was high at 3.3%. Serological test detected 10 times more cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection than the RT-PCR test and should be the preferred tool for estimating the prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Keywords: COVID-19; antibody; hemodialysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
The seropositive rate of hemodialysis patients and health care workers. HCWs, health care workers; HD, hemodialysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Guan W.J., Ni Z.Y., Hu Y. China Medical Treatment Expert Group for Covid-19. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:1708–1720. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang C., Wang Y., Li X. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395:497–506. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhu N., Zhang D., Wang W. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:727–733. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19–11-March-2020. https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-re... Available at: Accessed March 11, 2020.
    1. Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd4029942... Available at:

LinkOut - more resources