Covid-19 pandemic: from carnival masks to surgical masks.

Given the high transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 pandemic has a huge impact on our health system. Even in developed countries, strategic resources soon become insufficient. Although people over 60 and with comorbidities are at greater risk of developing severe forms, younger people may also require precious and scarce care. Hence, the World Health Organization recommend tests - PCR and serological tests - for detecting infected people on a large scale. The most common symptoms are fever, fatigue, dry cough, anorexia, myalgia, and dyspnea, with tomographic pulmonary findings being frequent even in asymptomatic cases. The Brazilian Society of Nephrology has published guidelines for the management of hypertensive, diabetic, dialysis, and transplant patients. In its alerts, care and precautions in dialysis units are also being detailed, both for the health team and for the patients. Although important renal manifestations are not yet evident in the admission of positive cases, recent studies with renal patients and performed in nephrology services are listed here. This pandemic lead us to learn from its progress in order to face new challenges in dialysis clinics, transplant services, and intensive care services.

Olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19, new insights from a cohort of 353 patients: The ANOSVID study.

Olfactory disorders (OD) pathogenesis, underlying conditions, and prognostic in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain partially described. ANOSVID is a retrospective study in Nord Franche-Comté Hospital (France) that included COVID-19 patients from March 1 2020 to May 31 2020. The aim was to compare COVID-19 patients with OD (OD group) and patients without OD (no-OD group). A second analysis compared patients with anosmia (high OD group) and patients with hyposmia or no OD (low or no-OD group). The OD group presented less cardiovascular and other respiratory diseases compared to the no-OD group (odds ratio [OR] = 0.536 [0.293-0.981], p = 0.041 and OR = 0.222 [0.056-0.874], p = 0.037 respectively). Moreover, history of malignancy was less present in the high OD group compared with the low or no-OD group (OR = 0.170 [0.064-0.455], p < 0.001). The main associated symptoms (OR > 5) with OD were loss of taste (OR = 24.059 [13.474-42.959], p = 0.000) and cacosmia (OR = 5.821 [2.246-15.085], p < 0.001). Most of all ORs decreased in the second analysis, especially for general, digestive, and ENT symptoms. Only two ORs increased: headache (OR = 2.697 [1.746-4.167], p < 0.001) and facial pain (OR = 2.901 [1.441-5.842], p = 0.002). The high OD group had a higher creatinine clearance CKD than the low or no-OD group (89.0 ± 21.1 vs. 81.0 ± 20.5, p = 0.040). No significant difference was found concerning the virological, radiological, and severity criteria. OD patients seem to have less comorbidity, especially better cardiovascular and renal function. Associated symptoms with OD were mostly neurological symptoms. We did not find a significant relationship between OD and less severity in COVID-19 possibly due to methodological bias.

Emerging Viral Infections and the Potential Impact on Hypertension, Cardiovascular Disease, and Kidney Disease.

Viruses are ubiquitous in the environment and continue to have a profound impact on human health and disease. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted this with impressive morbidity and mortality affecting the world's population. Importantly, the link between viruses and hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease has resulted in a renewed focus and attention on this potential relationship. The virus responsible for COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, has a direct link to one of the major enzymatic regulatory systems connected to blood pressure control and hypertension pathogenesis, the renin-angiotensin system. This is because the entry point for SARS-CoV-2 is the ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) protein. ACE2 is one of the main enzymes responsible for dampening the primary effector peptide Ang II (angiotensin II), metabolizing it to Ang-(1-7). A myriad of clinical questions has since emerged and are covered in this review. Several other viruses have been linked to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and kidney health. Importantly, patients with high-risk apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) alleles are at risk for developing the kidney lesion of collapsing glomerulopathy after viral infection. This review will highlight several emerging viruses and their potential unique tropisms for the kidney and cardiovascular system. We focus on SARS-CoV-2 as this body of literature in regards to cardiovascular disease has advanced significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kidney Outcomes in Long COVID.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is associated with increased risk of post-acute sequelae involving pulmonary and extrapulmonary organ systems-referred to as long COVID. However, a detailed assessment of kidney outcomes in long COVID is not yet available. METHODS: We built a cohort of 1,726,683 US Veterans identified from March 1, 2020 to March 15, 2021, including 89,216 patients who were 30-day survivors of COVID-19 and 1,637,467 non-infected controls. We examined risks of AKI, eGFR decline, ESKD, and major adverse kidney events (MAKE). MAKE was defined as eGFR decline ≥50%, ESKD, or all-cause mortality. We used inverse probability-weighted survival regression, adjusting for predefined demographic and health characteristics, and algorithmically selected high-dimensional covariates, including diagnoses, medications, and laboratory tests. Linear mixed models characterized intra-individual eGFR trajectory. RESULTS: Beyond the acute illness, 30-day survivors of COVID-19 exhibited a higher risk of AKI (aHR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.86 to 2.04), eGFR decline ≥30% (aHR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.37), eGFR decline ≥40% (aHR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.37 to 1.51), eGFR decline ≥50% (aHR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.51 to 1.74), ESKD (aHR, 2.96; 95% CI, 2.49 to 3.51), and MAKE (aHR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.58 to 1.74). Increase in risks of post-acute kidney outcomes was graded according to the severity of the acute infection (whether patients were non-hospitalized, hospitalized, or admitted to intensive care). Compared with non-infected controls, 30-day survivors of COVID-19 exhibited excess eGFR decline (95% CI) of -3.26 (-3.58 to -2.94), -5.20 (-6.24 to -4.16), and -7.69 (-8.27 to -7.12) ml/min per 1.73 m2 per year, respectively, in non-hospitalized, hospitalized, and those admitted to intensive care during the acute phase of COVID-19 infection. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who survived COVID-19 exhibited increased risk of kidney outcomes in the post-acute phase of the disease. Post-acute COVID-19 care should include attention to kidney disease.

Pathogenetic factors fanning the flames of COVID-19 to cause rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis: An observational study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Published studies on coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) associated rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis (CAROCM) were primarily descriptive. Therefore, we aimed to identify features of COVID-19 that could predispose to CAROCM and explore the pathogenic pathways. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective hospital-based study was done during the first (March 2020 - January 2021) and the second (February 2021 - June 2021) waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Subjects were grouped into four categories: first-wave CAROCM (n-4); second-wave CAROCM (n-27); first-wave non-mucor COVID (n-75), and second-wave non-mucor COVID (n-50). Data elements included age, gender, comorbidities, COVID-19 severity, steroid therapy, peak values of interleukin-6 (IL-6), serum ferritin and D-dimer, nadir values of absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), absolute neutrophil count (ANC) and platelet count (Pl. C). RESULTS: Thirty-one patients of CAROCM were included. The mean (SD) age was 51.26 (11.48) years. 27 (87.1%) were aged ≥ 40 years and males. Severe COVID-19 was seen more often in the second wave than the first wave (P-0.001). CAROCM group was significantly younger (P-0.008) and showed a higher incidence of uncontrolled diabetes (P-0.001) and renal dysfunction (P-0.004) than non-mucor COVID. While IL-6, ferritin and D-dimer were significantly elevated in CAROCM than non-mucor COVID, clinical severity, ANC, ALC and Pl. C showed no significant difference. CONCLUSION: CAROCM is seen often in middle-aged diabetic males with uncontrolled hyperglycaemia, diabetic ketoacidosis, renal dysfunction and those infected by more transmissible delta variants and treated with steroids. IL-6, D-dimer, serum ferritin are more often elevated in CAROCM and might play a pathogenic role.

COVID-19 Risk Factors and Mortality Outcomes Among Medicare Patients Receiving Long-term Dialysis.

Importance: There is a need for studies to evaluate the risk factors for COVID-19 and mortality among the entire Medicare long-term dialysis population using Medicare claims data. Objective: To identify risk factors associated with COVID-19 and mortality in Medicare patients undergoing long-term dialysis. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective, claims-based cohort study compared mortality trends of patients receiving long-term dialysis in 2020 with previous years (2013-2019) and fit Cox regression models to identify risk factors for contracting COVID-19 and postdiagnosis mortality. The cohort included the national population of Medicare patients receiving long-term dialysis in 2020, derived from clinical and administrative databases. COVID-19 was identified through Medicare claims sources. Data were analyzed on May 17, 2021. Main Outcomes and Measures: The 2 main outcomes were COVID-19 and all-cause mortality. Associations of claims-based risk factors with COVID-19 and mortality were investigated prediagnosis and postdiagnosis. Results: Among a total of 498 169 Medicare patients undergoing dialysis (median [IQR] age, 66 [56-74] years; 215 935 [43.1%] women and 283 227 [56.9%] men), 60 090 (12.1%) had COVID-19, among whom 15 612 patients (26.0%) died. COVID-19 rates were significantly higher among Black (21 787 of 165 830 patients [13.1%]) and Hispanic (13 530 of 86 871 patients [15.6%]) patients compared with non-Black patients (38 303 of 332 339 [11.5%]), as well as patients with short (ie, 1-89 days; 7738 of 55 184 patients [14.0%]) and extended (ie, ≥90 days; 10 737 of 30 196 patients [35.6%]) nursing home stays in the prior year. Adjusting for all other risk factors, residing in a nursing home 1 to 89 days in the prior year was associated with a higher hazard for COVID-19 (hazard ratio [HR] vs 0 days, 1.60; 95% CI 1.56-1.65) and for postdiagnosis mortality (HR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.25-1.37), as was residing in a nursing home for an extended stay (COVID-19: HR, 4.48; 95% CI, 4.37-4.59; mortality: HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.07-1.16). Black race (HR vs non-Black: HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.23-1.28) and Hispanic ethnicity (HR vs non-Hispanic: HR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.64-1.72) were associated with significantly higher hazards of COVID-19. Although home dialysis was associated with lower COVID-19 rates (HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.75-0.80), it was associated with higher mortality (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.11-1.25). Conclusions and Relevance: These results shed light on COVID-19 risk factors and outcomes among Medicare patients receiving long-term chronic dialysis and could inform policy decisions to mitigate the significant extra burden of COVID-19 and death in this population.

Efficacy of Ninjin'yoeito in treating severe coronavirus disease 2019 in patients in an intensive care unit.

Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a global emergency with high mortality. There are few effective treatments, and many severe patients are treated in an intensive care unit (ICU). The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the Japanese Kampo medicine ninjin'yoeito (NYT) is effective in treating ICU patients with COVID-19. Nine patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted to the ICU were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent respiratory management with invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) and enteral nutrition. Four patients received NYT (7.5 g daily) from an elemental diet tube. We retrospectively examined the prognostic nutritional index (PNI), length of IMV, length of ICU stay, length of hospital stay, rate of tracheostomy, and mortality rate. The median age of the enrolled participants was 60.0 years (4 men and 5 women). The median body mass index was 27.6. The most common comorbidity was diabetes (4 patients, 44%), followed by hypertension (3 patients, 33%) and chronic kidney disease (2 patients, 22%). The median length of IMV, ICU stay, and hospital stay were all shorter in the NYT group than in the non-NYT group (IMV; 4.0 days vs 14.3 days, ICU; 5.3 days vs 14.5 days, hospital stay; 19.9 days vs 28.2 days). In the NYT and non-NYT groups, the median PNI at admission was 29.0 and 31.2, respectively. One week after admission, the PNI was 30.7 in the NYT group and 24.4 in non-NYT group. PNI was significantly (p = 0.032) increased in the NYT group (+13.6%) than in the non-NYT group (-22.0%). The Japanese Kampo medicine NYT might be useful for treating patients with severe COVID-19 in ICU. This study was conducted in a small number of cases, and further large clinical trials are necessary.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on interest in renal diseases.

There is an information gap about the public's interest in nephrological diseases in the COVID-19 era. The objective was to identify public interest in kidney diseases during the pandemic. In this infodemiology study, Google Trends was queried for a total of 50 search queries corresponding to a broad spectrum of nephrological diseases and the term "nephrologist." Two time intervals of 2020 (March 15-July 4 and July 5-October 31) were compared to similar time intervals of 2016-2019 for providing information on interest in different phases of the pandemic. Compared to the prior 4 years, analyses showed significant decreases in relative search volume (RSV) in the majority (76%) of search queries on March 15-July 4, 2020 period. However, RSV of the majority of search queries (≈70%) on July 5-October 31, 2020 period was not significantly different from similar periods of the previous 4 years, with an increase in search terms of amyloidosis, kidney biopsy, hematuria, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, nephrolithiasis, acute kidney injury, and Fabry disease. During the early pandemic, there have been significant decreases in search volumes for many nephrological diseases. However, this trend reversed in the period from July 5 to October 31, 2020, implying the increased need for information on kidney diseases. The results of this study enable us to understand how COVID-19 impacted the interest in kidney diseases and demands/needs for kidney diseases by the general public during the pandemic.

Temporal trends of COVID-19 related in-hospital mortality and demographics in Switzerland - a retrospective single centre cohort study.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to analyse the demographics, risk factors and in-hospital mortality rates of patients admitted with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to a tertiary care hospital in Switzerland. METHODS: In this single-centre retrospective cohort study at the University Hospital Basel, we included all patients with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection hospitalised from 27 February 2020 to 10 May 2021. Patients’ characteristics were extracted from the electronic medical record system. The primary outcome of this study was temporal trends of COVID-19-related in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were COVID-19-related mortality in patients hospitalised on the intensive care unit (ICU), admission to ICU, renal replacement therapy and length of hospital stay, as well as a descriptive analysis of risk factors for in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: During the study period we included 943 hospitalisations of 930 patients. The median age was 65 years (interquartile range [IQR] 53–76) and 63% were men. The numbers of elderly patients, patients with multiple comorbidities and need for renal replacement therapy decreased from the first and second to the third wave. The median length of stay and need for ICU admission were similar in all waves. Throughout the study period 88 patients (9.3%) died during the hospital stay. Crude in-hospital mortality was similar over the course of the first two waves (9.5% and 10.2%, respectively), whereas it decreased in the third wave (5.4%). Overall mortality in patients without comorbidities was low at 1.6%, but it increased in patients with any comorbidity to 12.6%. Predictors of all-cause mortality over the whole period were age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] per 10-year increase 1.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.45–2.26; p <0.001), male sex (aOR 1.68, 95% CI 1.00–2.82; p = 0.048), immunocompromising condition (aOR 2.09, 95% CI 1.01–4.33; p = 0.048) and chronic kidney disease (aOR 2.25, 95% CI 1.35–3.76; p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: In our study in-hospital mortality was 9.5%, 10.2% and 5.4% in the first, second and third waves, respectively. Age, immunocompromising condition, male sex and chronic kidney disease were factors associated with in-hospital mortality. Importantly, patients without any comorbidity had a very low in-hospital mortality regardless of age.

Variable effects of underlying diseases on the prognosis of patients with COVID-19.

Underlying diseases might be risk factors for poor prognosis in patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19); however, we still do not know whether these diseases are independent factors affecting prognosis, which type of underlying diseases are risk factors, and which type of clinical outcomes are affected. We retrospectively reviewed cohort data from 7,590 de-identified patients with COVID-19 who were diagnosed using severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 RNA polymerase chain reaction test up to May 15, 2020. We used linked-medical claims data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in South Korea. Underlying diseases were identified using the diagnostic codes in the patients' files from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019. The total mortality rate was 3.0% in patients with COVID-19. After adjusting for age, sex, and concomitant chronic conditions, we found that congestive heart failure, chronic pulmonary diseases, diabetes without chronic complications, renal diseases, and malignancy were factors that significantly increased the cost of treatment. Cerebrovascular disease, chronic pulmonary disease, and paralysis were found to be independent factors significant in prolonging hospital stay. Diabetes with chronic complications was independently associated with intensive care unit admission. In addition, underlying congestive heart failure (odds ratio [OR], 1.724; P = 0.003), dementia (OR, 1.598; P = 0.012), diabetes with and without chronic complications (OR, 1.821; P = 0.002 and OR, 1.518; P = 0.022, respectively), renal disease (OR, 2.299; P = 0.002), and malignancy (OR, 1.529; P = 0.039) were significant factors associated with death, even after adjustments. Underlying diseases were significant independent factors of the poor prognosis in patients with COVID-19. The effects were variable according to the type of underlying disease and clinical outcome. Therefore, patients with COVID-19 with underlying diseases should be monitored more closely because they are more at risk of a poor prognosis.

Renal manifestations, incidence, pathogenesis and implications on prognosis and mortality in COVID-19 patients: A review of current evidence and the potential for future directions.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has now spread into a worldwide pandemic. The pulmonary manifestations of this disease have been well described in literature, however COVID-19 can also cause severe and lasting harm in other organs including the kidneys, heart, and pancreas. Emerging evidence suggests that COVID-19 has multiple renal manifestations which impact the prognosis and mortality of this disease. Here we present a literature review of the current evidence of renal involvement in COVID-19 patients and the potential for future directions in management.

Low Frequency of Acute Pancreatitis in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients.

OBJECTIVE: The clinical significance of increased serum pancreatic enzymes (PEs) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients has not yet been fully understood. We aimed to investigate the frequency and the impact on clinical outcome of PE elevation and acute pancreatitis in such patients. METHODS: Clinical data, laboratory tests, and cross-sectional images were analyzed from COVID-19 patients admitted to the Tor Vergata Hospital in Rome. Variables associated with PE abnormalities, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, or death were investigated through univariate and multivariate analyses and Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: Pancreatic enzymes were available in 254 of 282 COVID-19 patients. Among these, 66 patients (26%) showed mild elevation of PE, and 11 patients (4.3%) had severe elevation (>3 times of the upper limit of normal). Overall, 2 patients met the diagnostic criteria for acute pancreatitis. Hepatic and renal involvements were associated with PE elevation. Multivariate analysis showed that mild and severe PE elevations were significantly associated with ICU admission (odds ratios, 5.51 [95% confidence interval, 2.36-12.89; P < 0.0001] and 26.2 [95% confidence interval, 4.82-142.39; P < 0.0001]). CONCLUSIONS: Increase in serum PE, but not acute pancreatitis, is frequent in hospitalized COVID-19 patients and associates with ICU admission.