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Associations between hepatitis C virus (HCV) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) have been reported; however, differences of renal progression between general and CKD population remain to be elucidated in prospective studies. A total of 1179 participants, who have tested for anti-HCV antibody, were enrolled and prospectively followed for 3 years. The risks associated with HCV infection, in terms of incidence of CKD, annual estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) changes and 50% decline of eGFR at 3-year from baseline, were compared between normal renal function subjects and CKD patients. Overall, 111 of 233 (47.6%) CKD patients and 167 of 946 (17.7%) non-CKD subjects had HCV infection. The crude incidence rates of CKD were 226.9 per 1000 person-years and 14.8 per 1000 person-years in in HCV and non-HCV infected patients, respectively. The adjusted hazard ratio of HCV infection for incident CKD was 7.9 (95% CI 5–12.7). The HCV-infected normal renal function subjects were independently associated with increased risks of eGFR decline in the 1-year, 2-year and 3-year, respectively. The risk associations remained significant in 50% decline of eGFR at 3 years models and in different subgroup analyses. The increases of risks of eGFR decline were also notorious among overall HCV-infected CKD patients. However, the risk associations were less prominent in subgroup analyses (elderly, women and diabetic patients). The findings highlighted the importance of viral diagnosis with not only prognostic but also public health implications for preserving kidney function.

Background: Micronutrients are essential in maintaining normal human physiology. Data regarding the association between micronutrients and renal outcomes in chronic kidney disease (CKD) are lacking. Methods: This prospective observational cohort study enrolled 261 patients with CKD stages 1–5 and 30 subjects with normal renal function. Baseline serum zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), chromium, manganese, and copper, and laboratory tests were performed at enrolment. The primary endpoint was the presence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring long-term renal replacement therapy. Results: The median follow-up periods of renal and non-renal survivals were 67.78 and 29.03 months, respectively. Multiple linear regression showed that Zn and Se (β ± SE: 24.298 ± 8.616, p = 0.005; 60.316 ± 21.875, p = 0.006, respectively) levels were positively correlated with renal function. Time to ESRD was significantly longer for those with Zn levels ≥1287.24 ng/g and Se levels ≥189.28 ng/g (both p < 0.001). Cox regression analysis identified a higher Zn level as an independently negative predictor of ESRD after adjusting for renal function (hazard ratio, 0.450, p = 0.019). Conclusion: Serum Se and Zn concentrations are positively associated with renal function and better renal outcomes. A higher Zn concentration could independently predict better renal survival.

Background: Although associations between low protein diet (LPD) and changes of gut microbiota have been reported; however, systematic discernment of the effects of LPD on diet-microbiome-host interaction in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is lacking. Methods: We searched PUBMED and EMBASE for articles published on changes of gut microbiota associated with implementation of LPD in CKD patients until July 2021. Independent researchers extracted data and assessed risks of bias. We conducted meta-analyses of combine p-value, mean differences and random effects for gut microbiota and related metabolites. Study heterogeneity was measured by Tau2 and I2 statistic. This study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Results: Five articles met inclusion criteria. The meta-analyses of gut microbiota exhibited enrichments of Lactobacillaceae (meta-p= 0.010), Bacteroidaceae (meta-p= 0.048) and Streptococcus anginosus (meta-p< 0.001), but revealed depletion of Bacteroides eggerthii (p=0.017) and Roseburia faecis (meta-p=0.019) in LPD patients compared to patients undergoing normal protein diet. The serum IS levels (mean difference: 0.68 ug/mL, 95% CI: -8.38-9.68, p= 0.89) and pCS levels (mean difference: -3.85 ug/mL, 95% CI: -15.49-7.78, p < 0.52) did not change between groups. We did not find significant differences on renal function associated with change of microbiota between groups (eGFR, mean difference: -7.21 mL/min/1.73 m2, 95% CI: -33.2-18.79, p= 0.59; blood urea nitrogen, mean difference: -6.8 mg/dL, 95% CI: -46.42-32.82, p= 0.74). Other clinical (sodium, potassium, phosphate, albumin, fasting sugar, uric acid, total cholesterol, triglycerides, C-reactive protein and hemoglobin) and anthropometric estimates (body mass index, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure) did not differ between the two groups. Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis suggested that the effects of LPD on the microbiota were observed predominantly at the families and species levels but minimal on microbial diversity or richness. In the absence of global compositional microbiota shifts, the species-level changes appear insufficient to alter metabolic or clinical outputs.

Background Cardiac troponins are important markers for diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in general population; however, chronically-elevated troponins levels are often seen in patients with renal insufficiency, which reduce their diagnostic accuracy. The aim of our study was to access the diagnostic values of initial high-sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and relative change of hs-cTnT for AMI in patients with and without renal insufficiency. Methods Cardiac care unit patients with elevated hs-cTnT levels in 2017–2018 were enrolled. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate initial hs-cTnT levels and relative changes after 3 h of enrollment for diagnosis of AMI in patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (low), and eGFR ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (normal). Results Of 359 patients, 240 patients had low eGFR, and 119 patients had normal eGFR. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for the initial hs-cTnT levels was 0.58 (95% CI, 0.5–0.65, p = 0.053) among patients with low eGFR and 0.54 (95% CI, 0.4–0.67, p = 0.612) among patients with normal eGFR. AUCs for relative changes of hs-cTnT were 0.82 (95% CI, 0.76–0.88, p

Not applicable. Acute kidney injury Confidence interval Coronavirus disease 2019 Ali H, Daoud A, Mohamed MM, Salim SA, Yessayan L, Baharani J, Murtaza A, Rao V, Soliman KM. Survival rate in acute kidney injury superimposed COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ren Fail. 2020;42(1):393–7. CAS Article Google Scholar Ronco C, Reis T. Kidney involvement in COVID-19 and rationale for extracorporeal therapies. Nat Rev Nephrol. 2020;16(6):308–10. CAS Article Google Scholar Naicker S, Yang CW, Hwang SJ, Liu BC, Chen JH, Jha V. The novel coronavirus 2019 epidemic and kidneys. Kidney Int. 2020;97(5):824–8. CAS Article Google Scholar Alberici F, Delbarba E, Manenti C, Econimo L, Valerio F, Pola A, Maffei C, Possenti S, Zambetti N, Moscato M, et al. A single center observational study of the clinical characteristics and short-term outcome of 20 kidney transplant patients admitted for SARS-CoV2 pneumonia. Kidney Int. 2020;97(6):1083–8. CAS Article Google Scholar Arentz M, Yim E, Klaff L, Lokhandwala S, Riedo FX, Chong M, Lee M. Characteristics and outcomes of 21 critically ill patients with COVID-19 in Washington state. JAMA. 2020;323(16):1612–4. CAS Article Google Scholar Banerjee D, Popoola J, Shah S, Ster IC, Quan V, Phanish M. COVID-19 infection in kidney transplant recipients. Kidney Int. 2020;97(6):1076–82. CAS Article Google Scholar Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X, Qu J, Gong F, Han Y, Qiu Y, Wang J, Liu Y, Wei Y, et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):507–13. CAS Article Google Scholar Chen T, Wu D, Chen H, Yan W, Yang D, Chen G, Ma K, Xu D, Yu H, Wang H, et al. Clinical characteristics of 113 deceased patients with coronavirus disease 2019: retrospective study. BMJ. 2020;368:m1091. Article Google Scholar Cheng Y, Luo R, Wang K, Zhang M, Wang Z, Dong L, Li J, Yao Y, Ge S, Xu G. Kidney disease is associated with in-hospital death of patients with COVID-19. Kidney Int. 2020;97(5):829–38. CAS Article Google Scholar Deng Y, Liu W, Liu K, Fang YY, Shang J, Zhou L, Wang K, Leng F, Wei S, Chen L, et al. Clinical characteristics of fatal and recovered cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China: a retrospective study. Chin Med J. 2020. Guan WJ, Ni ZY, Hu Y, Liang WH, Ou CQ, He JX, Liu L, Shan H, Lei CL, Hui DSC, et al. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(18):1708–20. CAS Article Google Scholar Guo T, Fan Y, Chen M, Wu X, Zhang L, He T, Wang H, Wan J, Wang X, Lu Z. Cardiovascular implications of fatal outcomes of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). JAMA Cardiol. 2020. Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, Ren L, Zhao J, Hu Y, Zhang L, Fan G, Xu J, Gu X, et al. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):497–506. CAS Article Google Scholar Lei S, Jiang F, Su W, Chen C, Chen J, Mei W, Zhan LY, Jia Y, Zhang L, Liu D, et al. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients undergoing surgeries during the incubation period of COVID-19 infection. EClinicalMedicine. 2020:100331. Richardson S, Hirsch JS, Narasimhan M, Crawford JM, McGinn T, Davidson KW, and the Northwell C-RC, Barnaby DP, Becker LB, Chelico JD, et al. Presenting characteristics, comorbidities, and outcomes among 5700 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the new York City area. JAMA. 2020. Shi S, Qin M, Shen B, Cai Y, Liu T, Yang F, Gong W, Liu X, Liang J, Zhao Q, et al. Association of Cardiac Injury with Mortality in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. JAMA Cardiol. 2020. Wang L, Li X, Chen H, Yan S, Li D, Li Y, Gong Z. Coronavirus disease 19 infection does not result in acute kidney injury: an analysis of 116 hospitalized patients from Wuhan, China. Am J Nephrol. 2020;51(5):343–8. CAS Article Google Scholar Wang D, Hu B, Hu C, Zhu F, Liu X, Zhang J, Wang B, Xiang H, Cheng Z, Xiong Y, et al. Clinical characteristics of 138 hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA. 2020. Wang D, Yin Y, Hu C, Liu X, Zhang X, Zhou S, Jian M, Xu H, Prowle J, Hu B, et al. Clinical course and outcome of 107 patients infected with the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, discharged from two hospitals in Wuhan, China. Crit Care. 2020;24(1):188. Article Google Scholar Yang X, Yu Y, Xu J, Shu H, Ja X, Liu H, Wu Y, Zhang L, Yu Z, Fang M, et al. Clinical course and outcomes of critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a single-centered, retrospective, observational study. Lancet Respir Med. 2020;8(5):475–81. CAS Article Google Scholar Zhang G, Hu C, Luo L, Fang F, Chen Y, Li J, Peng Z, Pan H. Clinical features and short-term outcomes of 221 patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. J Clin Virol. 2020;127:104364. CAS Article Google Scholar Zhang X, Cai H, Hu J, Lian J, Gu J, Zhang S, Ye C, Lu Y, Jin C, Yu G, et al. Epidemiological, clinical characteristics of cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection with abnormal imaging findings. Int J Infect Dis. 2020;94:81–7. CAS Article Google Scholar Zhou F, Yu T, Du R, Fan G, Liu Y, Liu Z, Xiang J, Wang Y, Song B, Gu X, et al. Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet. 2020;395(10229):1054–62. CAS Article Google Scholar Akram AR, Singanayagam A, Choudhury G, Mandal P, Chalmers JD, Hill AT. Incidence and prognostic implications of acute kidney injury on admission in patients with community-acquired pneumonia. Chest. 2010;138(4):825–32. CAS Article Google Scholar Zhang H, Penninger JM, Li Y, Zhong N, Slutsky AS. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a SARS-CoV-2 receptor: molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutic target. Intensive Care Med. 2020;46(4):586–90. 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Background: Data are lacking regarding predictors of quantification of neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) based on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) 50% neutralization titer (NT50) after a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods: This prospective single-center study enrolled 200 HD patients and 82 healthy subjects to estimate antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 viral spike protein 1 and receptor-binding domain after a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (ChAdOx1 or mRNA-1273), measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and applied spline-based generalized additive model regression analysis to predict NT50 converted to international units. Results: After the first dose of ChAdOx1, multiple linear regression showed that age (p = 0.011) and cardiothoracic ratio (p = 0.002) were negatively associated with NT50. Older age (OR = 0.958, p = 0.052) and higher cardiothoracic ratio (OR < 0.001, p = 0.037) could predict negative humoral response (NT50 < 35.13 IU/mL). NT50 was lower in HD patients compared with healthy controls receiving ChAdOx1 (10.68 vs. 43.01 IU/m, p < 0.001) or mRNA-1273 (36.39 vs. 262.2 IU/mL, p < 0.001). ChAdOx1 elicited lower GMTs than mRNA-1273 in the HD cohort (10.68 vs. 36.39 IU/mL, p < 0.001) and in healthy controls (43.01 vs. 262.22 IU/mL, p < 0.001). Conclusion: High cardiothoracic ratio and old age could independently predict a decline in nAb titers in an HD cohort vaccinated with a single dose of ChAdOx1.

Vaccination plays an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) is a major adverse effect that could be lethal. For cancer patients, cancer-related thromboembolism is another lethal complication. When cancer patients receive their COVID-19 vaccines, the following thromboembolic events will be more complicated. We presented a case recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, who had received the mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccination 12 days prior. Ischemic stroke and VITT were also diagnosed. We aggressively treated the patient with steroids, immunoglobulin, and plasma exchange. The titer of anti-platelet factor four and d-dimer level decreased, but the patient ultimately died. The complicated condition of VITT superimposed cancer-related thromboembolism was considered. To our knowledge, only one case of mRNA-1273 related VITT was reported, and this case study was the first to report a cancer patient who was diagnosed with VITT after mRNA-1273 vaccination. Therefore, when the need for vaccination among cancer patients increased under the current COVID-19 pandemic, the possible risk of VITT for cancer patients should be carefully managed. Further studies of the risk evaluation of the COVID-19 vaccine in cancer patients might be required in the future.

Hemodialysis (HD) patients are highly susceptible to COVID-19 infection. However, comprehensive assessments of current evidence regarding COVID-19 in HD patients remain incomplete. We systematically searched PUBMED and EMBASE for articles published on incidence or mortality of COVID-19 infection in HD patients until September 2020. Two independent researchers extracted data and study-level risk of bias across studies. We conducted meta-analysis of proportions for incidence and mortality rate. Study heterogeneity and publication bias were assessed. A total of 29 articles with 3261 confirmed COVID-19 cases from a pool of 396,062 HD patients were identified. Incidence of COVID-19 in these HD patients was 7.7% (95% CI: 5.0&ndash, 10.9%, study heterogeneity: I2 = 99.7%, p &lt, 0.001, risk of publication bias, Egger&rsquo, s test, p &lt, 0.001). Overall mortality rate was 22.4% (95% CI: 17.9&ndash, 27.1%, study heterogeneity: I2 = 87.1%, p &lt, s test: p = 0.197) in HD patients with COVID-19. Reported estimates were higher in non-Asian than Asian countries. Quality of study may affect the reported incidence but not the mortality among studies. Both incidence and mortality of COVID-19 infection were higher in HD patients. Available data may underestimate the real incidence of infection. International collaboration and standardized reporting of epidemiological data should be needed for further studies.

Not applicable. Acute kidney injury Confidence interval Coronavirus disease 2019 Middle East respiratory syndrome Severe acute respiratory syndrome Chen Y-T, Shao S-C, Hsu C-K, Wu I-W, Hung M-J, Chen Y-C. Incidence of acute kidney injury in COVID-19 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Critical Care. 2020;24(1):346. Naicker S, Yang CW, Hwang SJ, Liu BC, Chen JH, Jha V. The novel coronavirus 2019 epidemic and kidneys. Kidney Int. 2020;97(5):824–8. CAS Article Google Scholar Huang JW, Chen KY, Tsai HB, Wu VC, Yang YF, Wu MS, Chu TS, Wu KD. Acute renal failure in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome. J Formos Med Assoc. 2005;104(12):891–96. PubMed Google Scholar Wu VC, Hsueh PR, Lin WC, Huang JW, Tsai HB, Chen YM, Wu KD. SARS. Research Group of the National Taiwan University College of Medicine and National University Hospital: Acute renal failure in SARS patients: more than rhabdomyolysis. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2004;19(12):3180–182. Chu KH, Tsang WK, Tang CS, Lam MF, Lai FM, To KF, Fung KS, Tang HL, Yan WW, Chan HWH, et al. Acute renal impairment in coronavirus-associated severe acute respiratory syndrome. Kidney Int. 2005;67(2):698–705. Article Google Scholar Choi KW, Chau TN, Tsang O, Tso E, Chiu MC, Tong WL, Lee PO, Ng TK, Ng WF, Lee KC, et al. Outcomes and prognostic factors in 267 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome in Hong Kong. Ann Intern Med. 2003;139(9):715–23. Article Google Scholar Saad M, Omrani AS, Baig K, Bahloul A, Elzein F, Matin MA, Selim MA, Al Mutairi M, Al Nakhli D, Al Aidaroos AY, et al. Clinical aspects and outcomes of 70 patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection: a single-center experience in Saudi Arabia. Int J Infect Dis. 2014;29:301–06. Article Google Scholar Alsaad KO, Hajeer AH, Al Balwi M, Al Moaiqel M, Al Oudah N, Al Ajlan A, AlJohani S, Alsolamy S, Gmati GE, Balkhy H, et al: Histopathology of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronovirus (MERS-CoV) infection - clinicopathological and ultrastructural study. Histopathology. 2018;72(3):516–24. Article Google Scholar Cha RH, Joh JS, Jeong I, Lee JY, Shin HS, Kim G, Kim Y. Critical Care Team of National Medical Center: Renal Complications and Their Prognosis in Korean Patients with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus from the Central MERS-CoV Designated Hospital. J Korean Med Sci. 2015;30(12):1807–814. CAS Article Google Scholar Alberici F, Delbarba E, Manenti C, Econimo L, Valerio F, Pola A, Maffei C, Possenti S, Zambetti N, Moscato M, et al: A single center observational study of the clinical characteristics and short-term outcome of 20 kidney transplant patients admitted for SARS-CoV2 pneumonia. Kidney Int. 2020;97(6):1083–88. CAS Article Google Scholar Hirsch JS, Ng JH, Ross DW, Sharma P, Shah HH, Barnett RL, Hazzan AD, Fishbane S, Jhaveri KD. Acute kidney injury in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Kidney Int. 2020;98(1):209–18. Lei S, Jiang F, Su W, Chen C, Chen J, Mei W, Zhan LY, Jia Y, Zhang L, Liu D, et al. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients undergoing surgeries during the incubation period of COVID-19 infection. E Clinical Medicine. 2020;23:100385. Google Scholar Chen T, Wu D, Chen H, Yan W, Yang D, Chen G, Ma K, Xu D, Yu H, Wang H, et al. Clinical characteristics of 113 deceased patients with coronavirus disease 2019: retrospective study. BMJ. 2020;368:m1091. Article Google Scholar Deng Y, Liu W, Liu K, Fang YY, Shang J, Zhou L, Wang K, Leng F, Wei S, Chen L, et al. Clinical characteristics of fatal and recovered cases of coronavirus disease 2019 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective study. Chin Med J (Engl). 2020;133(11):1261–267. Article Google Scholar Wang D, Yin Y, Hu C, Liu X, Zhang X, Zhou S, Jian M, Xu H, Prowle J, Hu B, et al. Clinical course and outcome of 107 patients infected with the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, discharged from two hospitals in Wuhan, China. Crit Care. 2020;24(1):188. Article Google Scholar Yang X, Yu Y, Xu J, Shu H, Xia Ja, Liu H, Wu Y, Zhang L, Yu Z, Fang M et al. Clinical course and outcomes of critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a single-centered, retrospective, observational study. Lancet Respir Med. 2020;8(5):475–81. CAS Article Google Scholar Gopalakrishnan A, Mossaid A, Lo KB, Vasudevan V, McCullough PA, Rangaswami J. Fulminant Acute Kidney Injury in a Young Patient with Novel Coronavirus 2019. Cardiorenal Med. 2020;10(4):217–22. Suwanwongse K, Shabarek N. Rhabdomyolysis as a Presentation of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease. Cureus. 2020;12(4):e7561.Suwanwongse K, Shabarek N: Rhabdomyolysis as a Presentation of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease. Cureus. 2020;12(4):e7561. Banerjee D, Popoola J, Shah S, Ster IC, Quan V, Phanish M. COVID-19 infection in kidney transplant recipients. Kidney Int. 2020;97(6):1076–82. Zhou F, Yu T, Du R, Fan G, Liu Y, Liu Z, Xiang J, Wang Y, Song B, Gu X et al. Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet. 2020;395(10229):1038. Wang L, He W, Yu X, Hu D, Bao M, Liu H, Zhou J, Jiang H. Coronavirus disease 2019 in elderly patients: Characteristics and prognostic factors based on 4-week follow-up. J Infect. 2020;80(6):639–45. CAS Article Google Scholar Richardson S, Hirsch JS, Narasimhan M, Crawford JM, McGinn T, Davidson KW, Barnaby DP, Becker LB, Chelico JD, Cohen SL et al. Presenting Characteristics, Comorbidities, and Outcomes Among 5700 Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 in the New York City Area. JAMA. 2020;323(20):2052–59. 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Background Acute kidney disease (AKD) describes acute or subacute damage and/or loss of kidney function for a duration of between 7 and 90 days after exposure to an acute kidney injury (AKI) initiating event. This study investigated the predictive ability of AKI biomarkers in predicting AKD in coronary care unit (CCU) patients. Methods A total of 269 (mean age: 64 years; 202 (75%) men and 67 (25%) women) patients admitted to the CCU of a tertiary care teaching hospital from November 2009 to September 2014 were enrolled. Information considered necessary to evaluate 31 demographic, clinical and laboratory variables (including AKI biomarkers) was prospectively recorded on the first day of CCU admission for post hoc analysis as predictors of AKD. Blood and urinary samples of the enrolled patients were tested for neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), cystatin C (CysC) and interleukin-18 (IL-18). Results The overall hospital mortality rate was 4.8%. Of the 269 patients, 128 (47.6%) had AKD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that age, hemoglobin, ejection fraction and serum IL-18 were independent predictors of AKD. Cumulative survival rates at 5 years of follow-up after hospital discharge differed significantly (p Conclusions This investigation confirmed that AKI biomarkers can predict AKD in CCU patients. Age, hemoglobin, ejection fraction and serum IL-18 were independently associated with developing AKD in the CCU patients, and urine NGAL, body weight and hemoglobin level could predict 5-year survival in these patients.

Additional file 1 Supplementary Table 1. The unit conversion table.

Additional file 2 Supplementary Table 2. Logistic regression analysis for AKD according to baseline prognostic factors after excluding patients with CKD.

Background: Dialyzed patients are vulnerable to coronavirus infection disease 2019 (COVID-19). The incidence and outcome of COVID-19 in hemodialysis (HD) patients in Taiwan remain unclear. A series of preventive measures were executed to combat COVID-19 transmission among HD patients. Methods: We carried out a series of forward-looking and practical preventive strategies of COVID-19 control in our HD center. Incidences of COVID-19 of our HD unit were compared with those of national and local estimates from a community outbreak from 15 May to 30 June 2021. Prognostic factors associated with mortality were analyzed. Results: The national incidence of COVID-19 was 0.062%, being highest in Taipei City (0.173%), followed by New Taipei City (0.161%) and Keelung (0.083%). The overall incidence in Keelung HD patients was 0.666%. One patient of our HD center contracted COVID-19 from the household, however, we have contained secondary transmission in our HD center by implementing strict preventive measures. The mortality rate of HD patients in Keelung was 66.6%. The median Ct value of HD patients was 17.53 (11.75–27.90) upon diagnosis. The deceased patients had a higher cardiac/thoracic ratio than alive (0.61 vs. 0.55, p = 0.036). Conclusions: Taking aggressive and proactive infection preventive measures impedes the secondary transmission of COVID-19 in HD facilities. COVID-19-associated mortality was high in HD patients, being the high cardiac-thoracic ratio, an important prognostic factor for clinical outcome of infected HD patients.

Background The mortality rate of patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), especially those patients that develop acute kidney injury (AKI) is high. Acute kidney disease (AKD) is a term used to describe the continuum from AKI to chronic kidney disease. However, the role of AKD in predicting the prognosis of patients on ECMO support is unclear. Methods A total of 168 patients who received ECMO support and survived for more than 7 days at a single hospital from 2003 to 2008 were enrolled for this study and followed up for 10 years or till mortality. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards model were used to determine the prognostic factors associated with survival. Results The median survival times of patients with stage 0, stage 1, stage 2 and stage 3 AKD were ≥ 10 years, 43.9 months, 1 month, and half a month, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in cumulative survival rate between patients with stage 3 AKD and those with stage 0, 1, and 2 AKD (Cox-Mantel log rank test, p

Daily urine protein (UP) loss is a cumbersome but important measurement to guide diagnosis and treatment of renal disease. Spot urine protein-creatinine ratio (UPCR) can been applied to estimate daily proteinuria. However, the correlations between spot and 24h proteinuria remain controversial. In this cross-sectional study, simultaneous collection of 24h and spot urines were performed from 1,039 (derivation cohort) and 204 CKD patients (validation cohort) of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, from 2007 to 2017. The correlations between spot UPCR and 24h proteinuria were compared. The mean age of patients of derivation and validation cohort was 63 and 55 years and the mean estimated glomerular filtration rate was 62 ± 35 and 59 ± 36 mL/min/m2, respectively. The correlation coefficient was 0.819 between UPCR and 24hUP. Prediction equation was derived as: Log1024hUP (g) = 0.814 x Log10UPCR (mg/mg) + 0.110 x Gender- 0.004 x Age + 0.004 x Body weight (kg) + 0.002 x CKD stage coefficient- 0.018, where CKD stage coefficient: CKD stage G1 = 1, G2 = 2, G3a = 3.1, G3b = 3.2, G4 = 4, G5 = 5. Correlation coefficient between measured and predicted 24hUP among derivation group and validation group is 0.866 and 0.915, respectively. However, the agreement of spot and daily estimates was less pronounced with proteinuria > 3g than lower values in Bland-Altman analysis. Spot UPCR can accurately predict 24hUP in patients with daily proteinuria below 3g. The development of this equation may facilitate estimation of 24hUP in the clinical practice.

BACKGROUND Technique failure secondary to peritonitis is a grave impediment to remain in peritoneal dialysis (PD) therapy leading to high mortality. Multidisciplinary predialysis education (MPE) has shown improvement in outcomes of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. However, the legacy effects of MPE in PD patients remain unclear. METHODS All patients who started PD at single hospital in 2007-16 were enrolled. The incidences of peritonitis and peritonitis-related mortality were compared between MPE recipients and non-recipients. The content of the MPE was standardized in accordance with the NKF/DOQI guidelines. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards model were applied to identify the prognostic factors associated with peritonitis-free survival. RESULTS Of 398 PD patients, 169 patients had received MPE before starting PD. The patients of MPE group had a lower peritonitis rate [median (IQR) 0 (0.29) versus 0.11 (0.69) episodes/person-year, P< 0.001] and a lower percentage of peritonitis-related deaths (3.6% versus 8.7%, P = 0.04) compared with the non-MPE group. The median time to the first episode of peritonitis in the non-MPE and MPE groups was 33.9 months and 46.7 months, respectively (Cox-Mantel log rank test, P = 0.003). Cox regression analysis revealed that MPE assignment (HR: 0.594; 95% CI: 0.434-0.813, P< 0.001) were significant independent predictors for peritonitis-free survival. CONCLUSIONS An efficient standardized MPE program may prolong the time to the first episode of peritonitis and reduce peritonitis rate, independent of age, gender, diabetes, hypertension, educational status and PD modality. Subsequently, decreased peritonitis-related death.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a significant complication after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and frequently limits treatment success. Patients suffering complications with AKI often have high mortality. This investigation analyzed the outcomes of patients receiving allogeneic HSCT and identified the association between prognosis and RIFLE (risk of renal failure, injury to kidney, failure of kidney function, loss of kidney function and end-stage renal disease) classification. This study reviewed the medical records of 101 patients receiving allogeneic HSCT during an 8-year period at a specialized hematology ward in a university hospital in Taiwan. Demographic, clinical and laboratory variables were retrospectively gathered as predicators. Overall 6-month mortality was 36.6% (37/101). Mortality progressively and significantly increased (x 2 for trend, P , 0.001) based on RIFLE classification severity. Multiple variable Cox regres- sion analysis identified maximum RIFLE score on day 7 to 14 post- HSCT, occurrence of hepatic veno-occlusive disease and respiratory failure during admission as independent risk factors for 6-month mortality. Using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, the RIFLE classification on day 7 to 14 post-HSCT has the best discriminative power (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve: 0.696 6 0.057, P , 0.001) compared with day 0 to 7, 14 to 30 and 30 to 60 post-HSCT. Cumulative survival rates at 6-month follow- up differed significantly (P , 0.05) among non-AKI, RIFLE-R versus RIFLE-I and RIFLE-F. Hepatic veno-occlusive disease, respiratory fail- ure and severity of maximum RIFLE score on day 7 to 14 post-HSCT were independent predictors for 6-month mortality. RIFLE classifica- tion on day 7 to 14 post-HSCT can improve the accuracy of 6-month mortality in patients who received allogeneic HSCT. Key Indexing Terms: Acute kidney injury; RIFLE classification