COVID and Kidney: The Struggle So Far.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus disease‐2 pandemic (SARS‐COVID‐19) posed a global health challenge, including many special concerns for patients with kidney diseases. As the pandemic began, the nephrology fraternity worldwide geared up for rapid reconfiguration of services to address the unprecedented increased demand for acute renal replacement therapy (RRT) in COVID critical care units. Strategies were devised to address the safety concerns of patients of incenter maintenance hemodialysis due to their inability to adhere to lockdown, social distancing, and home isolation norms given the compulsion to attend treatment. Concerns also existed about feasibility and rationale of kidney transplantation in pandemic scenario, as it might increase the risk of postoperative death in new recipients. Despite the rapid development of vaccines and identification of effective treatments for severe disease, many of these challenges persisted with the continuing emergence of novel SARS‐CoV‐2 variants. Numerous studies were published over the course of time addressing the above concerns. However, the ability to draw meaningful conclusions from these studies had been another challenge owing to various limitations such as different methodologies and lack of standardization in treatment. Now with COVID in hiatus, it is time to assimilate the lessons learned from the published literature in the past 2 years.