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A brand new examine of greater than 13 million individuals in England has discovered no proof to recommend gentle COVID-19 an infection could trigger long-term kidney harm. Nonetheless, sufferers hospitalized with extreme COVID-19 infections are at a excessive danger of long-term kidney harm, the evaluation suggests.
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme infections requiring hospitalization have been usually accompanied by a decline in kidney perform. Whereas analysis research proceed to assist this affiliation, till now it has remained unclear whether or not milder COVID-19 infections, which don’t require therapy in hospital, might also have an effect on kidney perform long-term.
The brand new examine, led by researchers on the London College of Hygiene & Tropical Drugs (LSHTM) as a part of the OpenSAFELY collaboration with the College of Oxford, analyzed digital well being knowledge from greater than 13 million GP and hospital data in England between 1 February 2020 and 31 December 2022.
The OpenSAFELY platform acts as a gateway between digital affected person data and vital medical analysis. Developed over the COVID-19 pandemic, the platform permits data from GP data to be anonymized, grouped with different sources of knowledge resembling hospital data, and utilized in scientific research, with out researchers having direct entry to the data or identifiable data.
Of the info analyzed within the examine, greater than 3.5 million individuals have been recorded as having had a COVID-19 an infection and 10 million individuals didn’t have a report of an infection. Data from individuals who have been already on dialysis, a therapy used to filter blood when a affected person’s kidneys are unable to take action, or dwelling with a kidney transplant, have been excluded from the pattern.
The findings are revealed in The Lancet Regional Well being—Europe.
Throughout the examine interval, individuals who wanted hospitalization for COVID-19 had over seven instances higher danger of kidney failure than individuals with out COVID-19. These dangers have been highest amongst those that required intensive care and in these recorded as having acute kidney damage throughout their sickness. Amongst individuals with COVID-19 that was not extreme sufficient to require hospitalization, there was no elevated danger of kidney failure.
Dr. Viyaasan Mahalingasivam, a analysis fellow at LSHTM and a specialist kidney physician at Barts Well being NHS Belief, and lead writer of the examine, stated, “Our examine is the biggest of its form to have a look at the long-term results of COVID-19 infections on our kidneys. Throughout the peak of the pandemic, we have been overwhelmed by the amount of sufferers who have been sick with COVID-19 who wanted dialysis for extreme kidney damage. Due to this, there have been considerations that milder COVID-19 sickness would possibly result in extra gradual kidney harm over the long run.
“It is reassuring that we didn’t discover proof to recommend that gentle COVID-19 an infection causes long-term harm to kidney perform. However we will not ignore that those that expertise extreme sickness with COVID-19 and find yourself in hospital do have a excessive danger of kidney failure or worsening kidney perform.
“Our work builds on previous studies which have suggested that kidney complications may be a bigger problem after COVID-19 than other types of infection. However, we’re not able to say whether the main mechanism behind this is the COVID-19 virus attacking the kidney directly or if it is a consequence of the body’s inflammatory response to severe infection.”
The examine additionally discovered that the elevated danger of kidney harm for sufferers hospitalized with COVID-19 infections differed throughout ethnicities and was highest for black ethnic teams.
Dr. Laurie Tomlinson, Professor of Medical Epidemiology at LSHTM and a senior writer of the examine, stated, “Our outcomes present that having a gentle COVID-19 an infection doesn’t improve your danger of getting long-term kidney harm, and that’s significantly reassuring for sufferers who’re already dwelling with kidney illness.
“Nonetheless, there have been nonetheless a considerable quantity of people that have been admitted to hospital for COVID-19 infections, who then went on to develop kidney failure and it is vital that we attempt to set up how we are able to reduce this sooner or later.
“Our findings all add to growing calls for more studies into health inequalities and what could be driving them, such as delayed access to treatment, differing susceptibility to infections and broader structural and social determinants of health.”
The authors say that well being care suppliers ought to prioritize interventions which reduce the possibilities of at-risk teams needing hospitalization. This consists of guaranteeing vaccinations may be accessed by sufferers who’re most susceptible to extreme sickness. They are saying that sufferers discharged from hospital after being handled for COVID-19 an infection also needs to be fastidiously monitored.
Extra data:
Viyaasan Mahalingasivam et al, Lengthy-term kidney outcomes after COVID-19: a matched cohort examine utilizing the OpenSAFELY platform, The Lancet Regional Well being—Europe (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2025.101338
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London College of Hygiene & Tropical Drugs
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Largest examine up to now assesses long-term impression of COVID-19 on kidneys (2025, June 19)
retrieved 19 June 2025
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