mehrdad salahi

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important comorbidity in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‑19) patients considering its high prevalence. We aimed to figure out the relationship between CKD and COVID‑19 mortality in this study.

In total, 116 CKD patients (estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR] lower than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 ) and 147 control subjects confirmed with COVID‑19 were studied. Data regarding demographics, sign and symptoms, laboratory findings, and chest computed tomography were collected. Association between CKD and in‑hospital mortality were analyzed using logistic regression models adjusted for confounders.

Mortality rate wassignificantly higherinCKD than non‑CKD (30.17 vs 4.76, P< 0.001) COVID‑19 patients. Multivariate logistic regression showed that CKD was significantly correlated with in‑hospital mortality in the total sample (Odds ratio (OR) = 8.64, confidence interval (CI): 3.67–20.35) and gender subgroups (females: OR = 4.77, CI: 1.38–16.40, males: OR = 13.43, CI: 3.85–46.87) (P < 0.05) of COVID‑19 patients in the crude model. Whereas, the correlation did not remain significant in the fully adjusted model in the total sample (OR = 1.70, CI: 0.35–8.19) and gender subgroups (females: OR = 1.07 CI: 0.06–19.82, males: OR = 0.87, CI: 0.07–10.33) (P > 0.05) of COVID‑19 patients.

This study suggested an independent association between CKD and in‑hospital mortality in COVID‑19 patients. Therefore, more intensive surveillance of COVID‑19 patients with CKD is to be warranted.

Prophylaxis could be an established strategy to potentially prevent and control infectious diseases and should be considered in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) pandemic. The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a prophylaxis treatment strategy in the reduction of the risk of COVID‑19 among health professionals.

The health professionals were randomly assigned (1:1) to the control group without receiving any hydroxychloroquine as prophylaxis and the hydroxychloroquine group receiving a weekly hydroxychloroquine dose of 400 mg up to 12 weeks.

A total of 146 health professionals were randomly enrolled in this study between August 11 and November 11 in 2020. Among the screened health professionals, 21 (14.6%) were infected with COVID‑19 during the 12 weeks, and 14 (66.6%) out of the 21 health professionals were in the control group. Most participants with COVID‑19 had mild symptoms (62%). In addition, 9.5% (n = 2) of the participants suffered from moderate disease and 28.5% were diagnosed with severe symptoms. In the hydroxychloroquine group, 5 (7.1%) and 2 (2.8%) participants were reported with mild and moderate symptoms of COVID‑19, respectively, and 2 participants had moderate, 8 (10.9%) participants had mild symptoms, and 6 (8.2%) participants had severe symptoms in the control group, within 3 months. Severe symptoms of COVID‑19 were not observed in the hydroxychloroquine group.

This study addressed the effect and benefit of hydroxychloroquine administration for the prevention of COVID‑19 among health professionals. The improved perception of prophylaxis might highlight its important role in future COVID‑19 outbreaks to prevent hospital transmission, which is a major route of spread.