Acute kidney injury in a Malaysian intensive care unit: Assessment of incidence, risk factors, and outcome

Abstract Purpose Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common and carries a high mortality rate. Most epidemiological studies were retrospective and were done in Western populations. We aim to assess its incidence using both urine output and creatinine criteria and its association with risk factors and outcome. Material and methods This was a single-center, prospective, observational study. All intensive care unit (ICU) patients older than 18 years were screened for inclusion in the study. Admission of less than 48 hours, postelective surgery, and ICU readmission were excluded. Results A total of 143 patients were recruited, of these, 65% had AKI, of which 18 (19%) were stage 1; 23 (25%), stage 2; and 52 (56%), stage 3. Independent risk factors for AKI include high Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score and septic shock (odds ratio of 1.20 [1.09-1.33] and 8.41 [1.49-47.6], respectively). Thirty-eight percent were classified as AKI based on creatinine and 61% as AKI based on urine output criteria, and, in 34%, both AKI based on creatinine and AKI based on urine output criteria were present. Acute kidney injury was an independent risk factor for mortality (hazard ratio of, 2.61 [1.06-6.42]). Conclusions Acute kidney injury is common in our ICU, and almost half are of highest severity stage. Patients with high severity of illness and septic shock were at risk for AKI. The presence of AKI independently predicted mortality.