Abstract
PURPOSE: Patients on maintenance hemodialysis are vulnerable to viral infections like COVID-19 because of the low chance of obedience and complying with rules besides the need for transfer to distant dialysis facilities. We investigated the impact and clinical effect of treatment of COVID-19 in dialysis patients. METHODS: We included patients on maintenance hemodialysis at different healthcare facilities in Zonguldak city. With the diagnosis of the first infected HD case, all other patients who shared the same session were screened. Hospitalized and clinically confirmed cases were included. COVID-19 diagnosis was made based on clinical, biochemical along radiologic findings. RESULTS: 34 (F/M:19/15, mean age 62 ± 13.2 years, dialysis duration 66.9 ± 57.7 months, length of hospital stay 16.2 ± 7.9 days) were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection. The prevalence of COVID-19 was found to be 18.4% of our exposed population. 38.2% of our patients were initially diagnosed by CT screening while asymptomatic. 35.3% had a fever as the first presenting symptom. Lymphopenia was the most common laboratory finding. Except for one, all had at least one comorbidity. Out of 12 (35.3%) patients admitted to ICU 6(17.6%) died. The deceased patients were older, presented with lower serum albumin and lymphocyte count, and had higher CRP and fibrinogen levels. High CRP level on admission was the only significant predictor of mortality. CONCLUSION: Early detection will lower mortality. In this study, with a low prevalence of COVID-19, the importance of early screening of both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients was shown to be highly important. Further studies are still needed to find out the most appropriate medical management.