Acute Kidney Injury in Pediatric Patients with COVID-19; Clinical Features and Outcome

Abstract Background:Renal disorders are reported as both underlying conditions and complications in critical pediatric COVID-19 infection. Herein, we investigated the pattern of renal involvement, particularly acute kidney injury (AKI), among pediatric patients with COVID-19.MethodsWe prospectively enrolled hospitalized pediatric patients with the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings were gathered and analyzed, using a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative approaches and descriptive statistics.Results187 patients including 120 (64.2%) male and 67 (35.8%) female with COVID-19 infection at a median (interquartile range) of 60 (24-114) months were enrolled in this study.Most patients (n=108, 58.1%) were suffered from one or two underlying comorbidities, mainly malnutrition (77.4%), neurologic/learning disorders (21.4%) and malignancy (10.2%). Kidney was the third organ involved in 30 patients (16%) during hospital admission, after lung (53.5%) and gastrointestinal tract (39%). According to the KDIGO definition and classification, AKI was detected in 38.5% of patients (stage 1: 55.6%, stage 2: 36.1%, stage 3: 8.3%) at presentation or during follow up. Nine patients (4.8%) required hemodialysis and 16 (8.6%) patients were eventually died. There was no significant association between AKI and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission (p=0.079), multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) (p=0.051), comorbidities (p=0.067), and mortality rate (p=0.789).ConclusionsKidneys are one of the major organs affected by COVID-19 infection. Although kidney abnormalities resolve in the majority of pediatric COVID-19 infection, particular attention should be given to kidney involvement in COVID-19 patients, particularly children with history of malnutrition and renal disorders.