Background: We aimed to reveal the frequency, prognosis and factors affecting the prognosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in hemodialysis patients. Methods: The frequency, symptoms (fever, throat ache, cough, weakness and diarrhea), laboratory findings (lymphocyte count and ratio, ferritin, c-reactive protein, d-dimer and fibrinogen), duration of hemodialysis, hemodialysis adequacy (determined by KtV Ure) and factors affecting patients who recovered or died of COVID-19 infection in chronic hemodialysis patients (n=730) in 5 different centers were investigated. Results: COVID-19 infection occurred in 141 of 730 patients in the 13-month period (19.3%), and twenty-nine died (20.5%). While the mean age of those who died was higher than those who recovered, the duration of hemodialysis treatment, gender distribution, and mean Kt/V were not different. The number of comorbidities was higher in patients who died than in those who recovered. Additional diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, and heart failure were found at a higher rate in patients who died. Conclusion: Mortality rates in hemodialysis patients were found to be higher than in the general population, and similar to the general population, death was more common in patients with higher comorbidity and cardiovascular disease compared to patients who recovered. Since cardiovascular diseases are common in chronic hemodialysis patients, death from COVID-19 may be higher.
Selçuk et al. (Tue,) studied this question.