Cardiorenal Syndrome in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review

Ling Lin; Yangqin Chen; Dongwan Han; Andrew Yang; Amanda Y Wang; Wenjie Qi

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2022.915533

Cardiorenal Syndrome in COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022 Jun 28:9:915533. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.915533. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ling Lin¹, Yangqin Chen¹, Dongwan Han¹, Andrew Yang^{2

3}, Amanda Y Wang^{3

4

5}, Wenjie Qi¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Infectious Disease, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Department of General and Acute Care Medicine, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ Concord Clinical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁴ Division of the Renal and Metabolic, George Institute for Global Health, TheUniversity of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁵ Department of Renal Medicine, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

Aims: To perform a systematic review assessing the clinical manifestations and outcomes of cardiorenal syndrome or the presence of both cardiac and renal complications in the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients.

Methods: All relevant studies about cardiorenal syndrome or both cardiac and renal complications in COVID-19 patients were retrieved on PUBMED, MEDLINE, and EMBASE from December 1, 2019 to February 20, 2022.

Results: Our search identified 15 studies including 637 patients with a diagnosis of cardiorenal syndrome or evidence of both cardiac and renal complications followingSARS-CoV-2 infection. They were male predominant (66.2%, 422/637), with a mean age of 58 years old. Cardiac complications included myocardial injury (13 studies), heart failure (7 studies), arrhythmias (5 studies), or myocarditis and cardiomyopathy (2 studies). Renal complications manifested as acute kidney injury with or without oliguria. Patients with cardiorenal injury were often associated with significantly elevated levels of inflammatory markers (CRP, PCT, IL-6). Patients with a diagnosis of cardiorenal syndrome or evidence of both cardiac and renal complications had more severe disease and poorer prognosis (9 studies).

Conclusion: The presence of either cardiorenal syndrome or concurrent cardiac and renal complications had a significant impact on the severity of the disease and the mortality rate among patients with COVID-19 infection. Therefore, careful assessment and management of potential cardiac and renal complications in patients with COVID-19 infection are important to improve their outcomes.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; cardiac complications; cardiorenal syndrome (CRS); renal complications.

Publication types

Systematic Review