Efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in Dialysis Patients: Epidemiological Analysis and Evaluation of the Clinical Progress

This study investigated the impact of the fourth COVID-19 pandemic wave on dialysis patients of Romagna territory, assessing the associations of vaccination status with infection risk, clinical severity and mortality. From November 2021 to February 2022, an epidemiological search was conducted on 829 patients under dialysis treatment for at least one month. The data were then analyzed with reference to the general population of the same area. A temporal comparison was also carried out with the previous pandemic waves (from March 2020 to October 2021). The epidemiological evolution over time in the dialysis population and in Romagna citizens replicated the global trend, as the peak of the fourth wave corresponded to the time of maximum diffusion of omicron variant (B.1.1.529). Of 771 prevalent dialysis patients at the beginning of the study, 109 (14.1%) contracted SARS-CoV-2 infection during the 4-month observation period. Vaccine adherence in the dialysis population of the reference area was above 95%. Compared to fully or partially vaccinated subjects, the unvaccinated ones showed a significantly higher proportion of infections (12.5% vs. 27.0% p = 0.0341), a more frequent need for hospitalization (22.2% vs. 50.0%) and a 3.3-fold increased mortality risk. These findings confirm the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in keeping infectious risk under control and ameliorating clinical outcomes in immunocompromised patients

Antibody Responses after Two Doses of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine in Dialysis and Kidney Transplantation Patients Recovered from SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Background and Objectives: Hemodialysis patients (HD) and kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) have been heavily impacted by COVID-19, showing increased risk of infection, worse clinical outcomes, and higher mortality rates than the general population. Although mass vaccination remains the most successful measure in counteracting the pandemic, less evidence is available on vaccine effectiveness in immunodepressed subjects previously infected and recovered from COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This study aimed at investigating the ability to develop an adequate antibody response after vaccination in a 2-dose series against SARS-CoV-2 in HD patients and KTR that was administered after laboratory and clinical recovery from COVID-19. Results: Comparing SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG levels measured before and after 2 doses of mRNA vaccine (BNT162b2 vaccine, Comirnaty, Pfizer–BioNTech or mRNA-1273 vaccine, Spikevax, Moderna), highly significant increases of antibody titers were observed. The antibody peak level was reached at 3 months following second dose administration, regardless of the underlying cause of immune depression and the time of pre-vaccine serology assessment after negativization. Conclusions: Our data indicate that HD patients and KTR exhibit a satisfying antibody response to a 2-dose series of mRNA vaccine, even in cases when infection-induced humoral immunity was poor or rapidly fading. Further studies are needed to evaluate the role of booster doses in conferring effective and durable protection in weak patient categories

FSGS collapsing variant during anabolic steroid abuse: Case Report

Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) is an hormone family whose use has considerably increased among body-builders during the last decades. The AAS abuse, especially associated with other drugs or nutritional supplements and protein loads, may cause a variety of pathologies to several organs with a mechanism related to dosage, timing and substance. The kidney is the main metabolizer of these drugs and it can be acutely or chronically damaged with ESKD. The literature reports some cases of Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in body-builders who abused of AAS. However, the link is not well understood and limited to some case-studies. In this paper, we report the case of a young body-builder who developed a FSGS collapsing variant with ESKD after prolonged abuse of AAS and a strongly hyperproteic diet and other dietary supplements. The patient underwent a genetic test because of the rapid and irreversibile onset of ESKD. The test showed a gene mutation of ACTN4, predisposing and causal of some genetic forms of FSGS. It was a very complex case, caused by several factors. The mutant protein of ACTN4 gene makes most vulnerable the cytoskeleton of the podocytes to external disturbances. That would explain why in those patients where the mutation has occurred, only those patients subject to "unfavorable environmental conditions", like the abuse of AAS, can develop a disease

[The accuracy of hospital discharge records and their use in identifying and staging chronic kidney disease]

: Administrative databases contain precious information that can support the identification of specific pathologies. Specifically, chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients could be identified using hospital discharge records (HDR); these should contain information on the CKD stage using subcategories of the ICD9-CM classification's 585 code (subcategories can be expressed just by adding a fourth digit to this code). To verify the accuracy of HDR data regarding the coding of CKD collected in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, we analyzed the HDR records of patients enrolled in the PIRP project, which could easily be matched with eGFR data obtained through laboratory examinations. The PIRP database was used as the gold standard because it contains data on CKD patients followed up since 2004 in thirteen regional nephrology units and includes data obtained from reliable and homogeneous laboratory measurement. All HDR of PIRP patients enrolled between 2009 and 2017 were retrieved and matched with available laboratory data on eGFR, collected within 15 days before or after discharge. We analyzed 4.168 HDR, which were classified as: a) unreported CKD (n=1.848, 44.3%); b) unspecified CKD, when code 585.9 (CKD, not specified) or 586 was used (n=446, 10.7%); c) wrong CKD (n=833, 20.0%); d) correct CKD (n=1041, 25.0%). We noticed the proportion of unreported CKD growing from 32.9% in 2009 to 56.6% in 2017, and the correspondent proportion of correct CKDs decreasing from 25.4% to 22.3%. Across disciplines, Nephrology showed the highest concordance (69.1%) between the CKD stage specified in the HDRs and the stage reported in the matched laboratory exam, while none of the other disciplines, except for Geriatrics, reached 20% concordance. When the CKD stage was incorrectly coded, it was generally underestimated; among HDRs with unreported or unspecified CKD at least half of the discharges were matched with lab exams reporting CKD in stage 4 or 5. We found that the quality of CKD stage coding in the HDR record database was very poor, and insufficient to identify CKD patients unknown to nephrologists. Moreover, the growing proportion of unreported CKD could have an adverse effect on patients' timely referral to a nephrologist, since general practitioners might remain unaware of their patients' illness. Actions aimed at improving the training of the operators in charge of HDRs compilation and, most of all, at allowing the exploitation of the informative potential of HDRs for epidemiological research are thus needed