Introduction:
At the end of 2019, a novel coronavirus (ie, SARS-CoV-2) was identified
as the cause of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei
Province. By 2020, it led to a pandemic that has spread throughout most
countries of the world. SARS-CoV-2 disease (COVID-19) primarily
manifests as respiratory tract infection with symptoms ranging from
those of a mild upper respiratory infection to severe pneumonia, acute
respiratory distress syndrome, and death. COVID-19 disproportionately
affects patients with pre-existing comorbidities, such as patients with
various types of kidney disease.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published data of
44,672 COVID-19 patients. The mortality rate was 2.3% in this study.
This rate was 1.3%, 3.6%, %8 and 14.8% between the ages of 50-59,
60-69, 70-79, >80 years respectively. The main risk factors
for mortality were cardiovascular diseases (10.5% mortality), diabetes
mellitus (7.3%), chronic lung disease (6.3%), hypertension (6%), and
cancer (5.6%).
Patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) that occurs mostly from
hemodialysis patients are particularly vulnerable to severe COVID-19 due
to the older age and high frequency of comorbidities, such as diabetes
and hypertension in this population. (1-4)
The currently known mode of transmission of Covid-19 is the droplet
route. Compared to the general population, chronic hemodialysis patients
have a higher incidence of COVID-19 infection due to impaired B and T
lymphocyte functions, susceptibility to molecular immunosuppression and
systemic inflammation caused by uremia.(5-7) The presence of comorbid
disease and the use of immunosuppression in patients with kidney
transplantation complicate the management of COVID-19 in this group of
patients. This may be due to the suppression or aggravation of symptoms
by immunosuppression, as well as from the underlying disease.(8)
In this study, we examined the demographic, clinical, laboratory, and
radiological results of all hemodialysis and kidney transplant patients
diagnosed with laboratory or radiological confirmed COVID-19 between 11
March 2020 and 11 March 2021.