MORTALITY ANALYSIS IN CHRONIC DIALYSIS PATIENTS HOSPITALIZED WITH COVID-19: EXPERIENCE OF A COVID-19-ONLY NEPHROLOGY DEPARTMENT

Limiting autopsies in deaths caused by COVID-19 reduced our ability to gain knowledge regarding many aspects of this lethal disease and also to answer potential medico-legal issues. Accordingly, it upraised the importance of the careful analysis of the clinical and biochemical determinants of the fatal evolution in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Maintenance dialysis patients, associating many comorbid conditions and an immunosuppressed status, are prone to a severe outcome of this disease. Since we were designated as a hospital dedicated exclusively to moderate/severe COVID-19 infections, we conducted an observational, single-center study in the Nephrology and Dialysis Department, aiming the analysis of mortality risk factors and determinants in maintenance hemodialysis patients admitted for this infection, which we discuss along with a focused review of the similar experiences in the last year's literature.