Evaluation of five different renal recovery definitions for estimation of long-term outcomes of cardiac surgery associated acute kidney injury

Background The commonly used recommended criteria for renal recovery are not unequivocal. This study compared five different definitions of renal recovery in order to evaluate long-term outcomes of cardiac surgery associated acute kidney injury (CSA-AKI). Methods Patients who underwent cardiac surgery between April 2009 and April 2013 were enrolled and divided into acute kidney injury (AKI) and non-AKI groups. The primary endpoint was 3-year major adverse events (MAEs) including death, new dialysis and progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD). We compared five criteria for complete renal recovery: Acute Renal Failure Trial Network (ATN): serum creatinine (SCr) at discharge returned to within baseline SCr + 0.5 mg/dL; Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative (ADQI): returned to within 50% above baseline SCr; Pannu: returned to within 25% above baseline SCr; Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO): eGFR at discharge ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m 2 ; Bucaloiu: returned to ≥90% baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Multivariate regression analysis was used to compare risk factors for 3-year MAEs. Results The rate of complete recovery for ATN, ADQI, Pannu, KDIGO and Bucaloiu were 84.60% ( n = 1242), 82.49% ( n = 1211), 60.49% ( n = 888), 68.60% ( n = 1007) and 46.32% ( n = 680). After adjusting for confounding factors, AKI with complete renal recovery was a risk factor for 3-year MAEs (OR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.20–2.38, P < 0.05; OR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.03–2.04, P < 0.05) according to ATN and ADQI criteria, but not for KDIGO, Pannu and Bucaloiu criteria. We found that relative to patients who recovered to within 0% baseline SCr or recovered to ≥100% baseline eGFR, the threshold values at which significant differences in 3-year MAEs were observed were > 30% or > 0.4 mg/dL above baseline SCr or < 70% of baseline eGFR. Conclusions ADQI or ATN-equivalent criteria may overestimate the extent of renal recovery, while KDIGO, Pannu and Bucaloiu equivalent criteria may be more appropriate for clinical use. Our analyses revealed that SCr at discharge > 30% or > 0.4 mg/dL of baseline, or eGFR < 70% of baseline led to significant 3-year MAE incidence differences, which may serve as hints for new definitions of renal recovery.