The European Renal Association–European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Registry collects data annually on patients treated by dialysis of receiving a kidney transplant from national and regional renal registries in Europe. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the ERA-EDTA Registry started collecting data on the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths within this population to providing a complete picture of the COVID-19 epidemic and related mortality across Europe.
The first results of this endeavor were recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Kidney International. In short, the aim of this study was to investigate 28-day mortality after COVID-19 diagnosis in the European kidney replacement therapy population. Our main findings demonstrate a high mortality risk in this population, with one in five patients dying after infection with COVID-19. This high mortality risk was especially evident in elderly patients; almost half of the kidney transplant recipients above 75 years of age did not survive a COVID-19 infection. We also identified male sex as a risk factor for COVID-19 related mortality, as well as differences between European countries. It is clear that the pandemic has had a substantial effect on mortality in patients receiving kidney replacement therapy, which form a highly vulnerable population due to their underlying chronic kidney disease and a high prevalence of multimorbidity.
Link to article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.kint.2020.09.006