RENAL IMPAIRMENT: IS THERE A NEED FOR MONITORING RENAL FUNCTIONS IN COVID INFECTION
Objective: To determine association of renal function derangement with disease severity in COVID 19 patients Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pathology, Army Medical College and Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, from April 2020 to May 2020. Methodology: All the confirmed COVID 19 patients admitted in the hospital over a period of 5 weeks were included in the study. Patients having diabetes, hypertension, or history of any renal abnormality were excluded from the study. Patients were categorized as mild, moderate, or severe according to the symptoms as well as the location of the patient in different wards admitted. Results: A total of 105 patients were included in the study. The study population had 99 (94.2% males and 6 (5.8% females. Serum creatinine (p=0.027) urea (p<=0.001) potassium (p<=0.001) were found to be significantly associated with disease severity while serum sodium levels (p=0.091) showed a non significant association with the infection. Whereas all of these had a positive correlation with COVID 19, serum potassium levels had a negative correlation with the severity of the disease. Conclusion: COVID 19 patients show renal function impairment at all levels of disease severity; hence vigilant monitoring of these patients is required. As certain drugs used in treatment of COVID 19 have renal clearance, dose adjustment should be considered for better patient outcome.