Project #178:
Long-term complications after SARS-CoV-2 infection in relation to dialysis and kidney transplantation

People with chronic kidney disease have been found to be at increased risk of severe COVID-19 (i.e. hospitalisation or death). In this study, we intend to use primary and secondary care health record data to investigate whether this patient group are at an increased risk of requiring long-term dialysis or a kidney transplant if they survived COVID-19.

We will also be investigating outcomes including death, heart problems, blood clots, lung problems, mental health problems, and hospital admissions in people who were already on dialysis or with kidney transplant at the time of infection.

To do these analyses, we will compare people with pre-existing chronic kidney disease who acquired COVID-19 infection at different waves of the pandemic. These people will be compared to a group of people with pre-existing chronic kidney disease from before the pandemic. We will further investigate whether differences in these outcomes vary by age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic deprivation and other pre-existing medical conditions (e.g. diabetes).

These analyses will be important in informing service needs for kidney care in the coming years. For this reason, as well as using GP and hospital data, we will also be using dialysis and kidney transplant data from the UK Renal Registry as this is the most accurate database available.