Researchers studying electronic health records discovered people with chronic kidney disease are most likely to be hospitalized, while COVID-19 patients with end-stage renal disease are 11 times more likely to be admitted to the hospital than patients without kidney disease.
Scientists said they do not yet fully understand how underlying medical conditions increase the risk of COVID-19-related complications, but the study suggests that physiological stress caused by an excessive inflammatory response to COVID-19 infection might destabilize organs which are already weakened by chronic disease, and the virus could act as a "second-hit" to organs.
The research team noted that, “Consistent with this hypothesis, kidney and heart are among the tissues with the highest expression of ACE2, a SARS-CoV-2 receptor.”
"Previous studies have identified a variety of health conditions associated with an increased risk of COVID-related hospitalization, including diabetes, heart failure, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. What is significant here is the magnitude of the kidney disease-related risk," said Dr. Alex Chang, nephrologist and co-director of Geisinger's Kidney Health Research Institute. "These findings highlight the need to prevent COVID-19-related illness in patients with kidney disease and other high-risk conditions."
Source: Newswise December 3, 2020