The Impact of COVID-19 Infection Control Measures on End-Stage Renal Disease Patients in a Community Hemodialysis Setting.

INTRODUCTION: Several non-pharmaceutical infection control measures have been implemented at community-based hemodialysis centers to reduce the risk of Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) transmission, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, there have been concerns that such measures may disrupt the routine and timely care required by patients, with adverse effects on their health outcomes. This cross-sectional study aims to determine the unintended consequences of COVID-19 infection control measures on hemodialysis patients. METHODS:  Electronic medical records were extracted from patients enrolled in community-based hemodialysis centers in Singapore. A baseline group prior of patients consisted of those enrolled in 2017, which was three years prior to the SARS-CoV-2-related pandemic (n = 548). This was compared with the study group of patients enrolled in 2019 (n = 426), just before the COVID-19 pandemic started. Medical records for these two groups were extracted from January to July 2018 for the baseline group and from January to July 2020, respectively. Three regression models were built to study dialysis adherence, kidney disease biomarkers, and hospitalization episodes. RESULTS:  There was no statistically significant difference in hospitalization and mortality outcomes, adherence to dialysis management, laboratory results for dialysis-related clearance, and anemia outcomes. There was a higher proportion of patients hospitalized for vascular access-related reasons in the study group as compared to the baseline group (OR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.10 to 2.29, P = 0.014). Patients in the study group had albumin levels 2.13% higher (95% CI: 0.88 to 3.39, P < 0.001) and alkaline phosphatase levels 7.3% lower (95% CI: 1.17 to 13.02, P = 0.020) than those in the baseline group. CONCLUSIONS:  From this community-based hemodialysis study in Singapore, it was shown that the COVID-19 pandemic did not disrupt regular healthcare services for these patients. With strategies instituted for a coordinated health delivery workflow, ensuring sufficient capacity in the various healthcare delivery sites and overall pandemic preparedness, the patient clinical outcomes measures continued to be met with no adverse consequences noted. Some improvements in dialysis-related laboratory values and quality of care targets may be due to more stringent measures instituted to protect these vulnerable patients in the community.

Ensuring Sustainability of Continuous Kidney Replacement Therapy in the Face of Extraordinary Demand: Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic.

With the exponential surge in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide, the resources needed to provide continuous kidney replacement therapy (CKRT) for patients with acute kidney injury or kidney failure may be threatened. This article summarizes subsisting strategies that can be implemented immediately. Pre-emptive weekly multicenter projections of CKRT demand based on evolving COVID-19 epidemiology and routine workload should be made. Corresponding consumables should be quantified and acquired, with diversification of sources from multiple vendors. Supply procurement should be stepped up accordingly so that a several-week stock is amassed, with administrative oversight to prevent disproportionate hoarding by institutions. Consumption of CKRT resources can be made more efficient by optimizing circuit anticoagulation to preserve filters, extending use of each vascular access, lowering blood flows to reduce citrate consumption, moderating the CKRT intensity to conserve fluids, or running accelerated KRT at higher clearance to treat more patients per machine. If logistically feasible, earlier transition to intermittent hemodialysis with online-generated dialysate, or urgent peritoneal dialysis in selected patients, may help reduce CKRT dependency. These measures, coupled to multicenter collaboration and a corresponding increase in trained medical and nursing staffing levels, may avoid downstream rationing of care and save lives during the peak of the pandemic.

Strategies for Management of Peritoneal Dialysis Patients in Singapore during COVID-19 Pandemic.

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is the only well-established home-based dialysis therapy in Singapore. As it is a home-based modality, PD should be considered as a preferred mode of kidney replacement therapy (KRT) for patients with kidney failure during this COVID-19 pandemic as it avoids frequent visits to hospitals and/or satellite dialysis centres. The highly infectious nature of this virus has led to the implementation of the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition orange status in Singapore since early February 2020. This paper summarises the strategies for management of several aspects of PD in Singapore during this COVID-19 pandemic, including PD catheter insertion, PD training, home visit and assisted PD, outpatient PD clinic, inpatient management of PD patients with or without COVID-19 infection, PD as KRT for COVID-19 patients with acute kidney injury, management of common complications in PD (peritonitis and fluid overload), and management of PD inventory.

Natriuretic peptides in chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are biomarkers of cardiovascular disease that is common in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Conflicting data on the influence of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) on BNP and NT-proBNP levels in CKD may stem from failure to account fully for the effects of coexistent cardiac disease, dysfunction, and volume overload. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: Prospective head-to-head comparison of plasma BNP and NT-proBNP in ambulatory euvolemic CKD patients with normal LV ejection fraction and no manifest cardiac or vascular disease. GFR was estimated by the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease formula, BNP and NT-proBNP measured using Abbott AxSYM and Roche Elecsys assays, respectively, and cardiac morphology and function assessed by transthoracic echocardiography. RESULTS: In 142 patients (42% female) of mean age 60 +/- 11 yr, mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 71% +/- 6%, GFR 38 +/- 14 ml/min per 1.73 m(2), and median BNP and NT-proBNP level 59 and 311 pg/ml, respectively. Multivariate predictors of NT-proBNP level were GFR, beta-blocker usage, LV mass index, and hemoglobin level. Plasma BNP was independently predicted by LV mass index and beta-blocker usage but not GFR. In the 74 patients without diastolic dysfunction, there was a significant rise in NT-proBNP but not BNP as GFR declined. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike NT-proBNP, plasma BNP level is relatively independent of GFR. BNP may therefore be the more appropriate biomarker to screen for cardiac dysfunction in CKD.