COVID-19 Vaccination Reduces Dialysis and Mortality Risk in Acute Kidney Injury Patients: Study

New Delhi: Vaccinated patients hospitalised with Covid-19 who developed acute kidney injury had better outcomes than unvaccinated patients with the same condition, according to new research published in the journal Kidney Medicine. The study showed that patients with prior vaccination were less likely to stay on dialysis after discharge and more likely to survive than unvaccinated patients.

The findings suggest that COVID vaccination can reduce the risk of long-term kidney function decline and mortality.

The researchers analysed approximately 3,500 patients hospitalised with COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and March 30, 2022. Of those patients, 972 developed acute kidney injury, with 42.3% unvaccinated and 48% having received at least two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines or one dose of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.

They found that 15.8% of unvaccinated patients were more likely to need a type of dialysis for critically ill patients called continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) compared with 10.9% of vaccinated patients.

In addition, unvaccinated patients had 2.56 times the odds of needing CRRT after hospital discharge, 5.54 times the risk of dying in the hospital, and 4.78 times higher risk of dying during long-term follow-up compared with vaccinated patients.

“It is important for individuals to discuss the benefits of getting vaccinated for Covid-19 with their doctors, as it can decrease the chances of needing dialysis, which can severely affect the quality of life of patients and lead to further complications, including death,” said lead author Dr. Niloofar Nobakht, Associate Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Reference: https://healthcare-in-europe.com/en/news/covid19-vaccine-dialysis-mortality-aki.html