The Impact of The COVID-19 Pandemic on Hospitalization Rate of Patients With ESKD in a Tertiary University Hospital of Thessaloniki, Greece

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND AIMS During the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the National Healthcare System of Greece was reorganized in order to cover the expected rise in hospitalizations of critically ill patients with COVID-19 infection. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to explore whether the onset of the pandemic influenced the hospitalization rate of patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in a large tertiary university hospital in the metropolitan region of Thessaloniki, Greece. METHOD In this observational study, we retrospectively collected data regarding the hospitalizations of ESKD patients in the section of Nephrology of the first Department of Internal Medicine at the AHEPA University Hospital of Thessaloniki. We provide a comparative evaluation of the number of hospitalizations, demographic characteristics of patients and in-hospital outcomes between the 1-year-long period before (1 March 2019–29 February 2020) and the corresponding period after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (1 March 2020–28 February 2021). RESULTS Over the 1-year period before the onset of the pandemic, 149 ESKD patients with various complications were hospitalized in our department. During the control period, we recorded only 90 non-COVID-19 hospitalizations of ESKD patients (Table 1). There was no significant difference in the age and gender of patients who were hospitalized before and after the onset of the pandemic. Furthermore, the median duration of hospitalizations and the in-hospital mortality rate were comparable between the two periods. Over the 1-year-long period after the onset of the pandemic, our department provided care to 50 ESKD patients (32 males and 18 females) with COVID-19 infection who had a mean age of 66.3 ± 16.1 years. Of these, 33 patients (66%) were given discharge from the hospital, and the remaining 17 patients (34%) died. CONCLUSION This single-centre observational study shows a significant reduction in non-COVID-19 hospitalizations of ESKD patients in a tertiary University Hospital of Thessaloniki after the onset of the pandemic. However, the demographic characteristics of patients who were hospitalized, the duration of in-hospital care and clinical outcomes were comparable between the pandemic and control periods.