Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients Hospitalized With Chronic Kidney Disease and COVID-19: A Nationwide Propensity-Matched Analysis

Introduction: There is limited data describing the cardiovascular outcomes in patients with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). This study aims to investigate the impact of CKD on cardiovascular outcomes in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Goals: To assess mortality, readmission, and other in-hospital cardiovascular outcomes in COVID-19 patients with and without CKD. Methods: Patients >18 years hospitalized with a diagnosis of COVID-19 were identified in the 2020 National Readmissions Database. Patients with CKD 3, 4 and 5 were subsequently identified using relevant ICD-10 codes. Nearest propensity score matching was conducted using a 1:1 ratio for several demographic, social, and clinical variables. Outcomes with <10 cases were excluded per HCUP rules. Results: Amongst 5,831 COVID-19 patients identified, 599 had either CKD stage 3, 4 or 5. Baseline characteristics are shown in Table 1. After matching, CKD was associated with higher rates of acute heart failure (HF) and acute kidney injury (AKI). Our analysis did not find any significant differences in mortality or readmission rates. Conclusions: Our analysis found a higher rate of Acute HF and AKI among COVID-19 patients with CKD 3-5 compared to those without CKD. Additional studies are needed to further characterize this observation.