COVID-19 progression in kidney transplant recipients: a single-center case series.

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory infection that has received much attention due to its rapid expansion. Currently, it has been revealed that patients with underlying disease, especially those with kidney disease are more prone to develop complications. Some studies associate kidney transplantation as a risk factor for COVID-19 progression; however, epidemiologic data that demonstrate this are amazingly rare. Considering the importance of the topic, we report on six kidney transplant recipients (median age 47 [41-55]) with confirmed or clinically suspected COVID-19. The most common admission presentations were fever (83.3%), dyspnea, and myalgia. At baseline, immunosuppressive therapy was ceased, prednisolone dose was increased, and all patients received antiviral treatment including hydroxychloroquine and umifenovir. After a median follow-up of 11.5 days from admission, six patients (100%) developed acute kidney injury (AKI), 50% required intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and two patients (33.3%) deceased as a result of deterioration in respiratory status. Overall, these findings demonstrate that respiratory involvement may be a risk indicator of in-hospital mortality in kidney recipients with COVID-19. In addition, AKI development in kidney recipients with COVID-19 is of utmost importance given the higher AKI occurrence in these patients compared with others. Therefore, more intensive attention should be paid to kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19.

Effects of Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs) on In-Hospital Outcomes of Patients With Hypertension and Confirmed or Clinically Suspected COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: There is an ongoing controversy about harms and benefits of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) in hypertensive patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Given the unresolved debate, we investigated the association of ARBs with in-hospital outcomes of these patients. METHODS: In this retrospective observational study, we studied patients with COVID-19 who referred to Sina Hospital in Tehran, Iran, from 20 February to 29 May 2020. Patients with either positive real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase-chain-reaction test of swab specimens, or high clinical suspicion according to the World Health Organization's interim guidance were included. We followed-up patients for incurring death, severe COVID-19, and in-hospital complications. RESULTS: We evaluated 681 patients with COVID-19 of whom 37 patients were excluded due to incomplete medical records and 8 patients who used ACEIs which left 636 patients in the analysis. In this cohort, 108 (17.0%) patients expired and 407 (64.0%) patients incurred severe COVID-19. Of 254 (39.9%) patients with hypertension, 122 (48.0%) patients were receiving an ARB. After adjustment for possible confounders, we found no independent association between taking ARBs and in-hospital outcomes except for acute kidney injury (AKI), in patients with confirmed or clinically suspected COVID-19, either hypertensive or not-hypertensive. We found that discontinuation of ARBs during hospitalization was associated with a greater risk of mortality, invasive ventilation, and AKI (all P ˂ 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: We found that taking ARBs by patients with hypertension and confirmed or clinically suspected COVID-19 is not associated with poorer in-hospital outcomes after adjustment for possible confounders.