Article Information
Corresponding author : Uma Rani Adhikari

Article Type : Research Article

Volume : 2

Issue : 5

Received Date : 01 Jul ,2021


Accepted Date : 07 Jul ,2021

Published Date : 10 Jul ,2021


DOI : https://doi.org/10.38207/jmcrcs20210085
Citation & Copyright
Citation: Adhikari UR. Incidence of acute kidney injury and its contributing factors among patients of critical care unit. J Med Case Rep and Case Series 2(5): https://doi.org/10.38207/jmcrcs20210085

Copyright: © © 2021 Uma Rani Adhikari. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cre
  Incidence of acute kidney injury and its contributing factors among patients of critical care unit.

Uma Rani Adhikari

*Corresponding Author: Uma Rani Adhikari, Senior Lecturer, College of Nursing Medical College & Hospital, 88, College Street, Kolkata- 700073, INDIA

Abstract
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a risk factor for increased mortality in critically ill patients. To assess the incidence and contributing factors of patients who develop AKI in the critical care unit (CCU), a prospective study was undertaken among 100 patients admitted to the CCU of a Medical college & hospital in Kolkata. Incidence of Kidney Injury assessed through record analysis with the help of KIDGO guideline. Contributing factors for AKI were assessed through record analysis with the help of structured Performa. The tool was pre-tested before final data collection. Institutional Ethics committee approval was taken for the study. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select the subjects. Patients who stay more than 48hours in the Critical Care Unit were selected and those with end-stage renal disease, who are aneuric, non-CKD patients with a baseline creatinine concentration of more than 3.4mg/dl for CKD patients who were on maintenance dialysis were excluded from the study. The study result found that the incidence of AKI is 20 %. This study also found a significant association between the incidence of acute kidney injury and its contributing factors like co-morbidity of HTN, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, sepsis, UTI, ventilator support, use of vasopressor agent, baseline creatinine level, and use of nephrotoxic drugs during CCU admission (antibiotics). So, the study results can be used to modify CCU policies.

Keywords: Incidence, AKI, contributing factors, CCU

Introduction
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a well-known complication that affects critically ill patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) and is associated with increased mortality, morbidity, and length of stay [1]. Acute kidney injury is defined as an absolute increase in serum creatinine more than and equal to 0.3mg/dl, an increase in serum creatinine more than or equal to 1.5 fold from baseline, or a reduction in urine output (documented urine output of less than 0.5ml/kg/h for more than 6 hours). Patient with diabetes mellitus, dehydration, sepsis contributes to the development of Acute Kidney Injury [2]

Signs and symptoms of acute kidney injury are oliguria, total body swelling, hypotension, dehydration, gastrointestinal loss of volume and electrolytes, dark and concentrated urine, sepsis syndrome and fever, exposure to potential nephrotoxins complications, and multiple organ failure. In 2007 John W Zoltan & H Endre [3] proposed the following as AKI diagnostic and classification criteria: acute serum creatinine changes (absolute serum creatinine increase above 0.3 mg/dl or relative 50 % increase from baseline values) or urinary output (below 0.5 ml/kg/minute for more than 6 hours; oliguria).

Currently, the universal policy and the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) policies are concentrated on the elimination of preventable deaths due to AKI in low-income countries by 2025 [4]. For effective planning regarding the reduction of preventable mortalities resulting from AKI, there is a need for sufficient data regarding the epidemiologic pattern of this disease in each country. Although urine output is an important kidney function parameter that identifies patients at higher risk for adverse outcomes, its pathophysiologic significance in the absence of extremes of oliguria or other surrogates of reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is more controversial. It should be noted that patients who develop AKI by KDIGO urine output criteria, regardless of whether Serum creatinine criteria are present, are at risk for developing fluid overload given the typically high obligate intake of critically ill patients.[5]

In KDIGO guidelines, the recommendations on AKI are based on an exhaustive evidence-based review of the literature and provide guidance for practice for clinicians. Most of the time patients are getting sicker due to acute kidney injury and the mortality and morbidity rate increases in the Critical care units. Actually, the AKI incidence in CCU/ICU patients varies widely depending on the type of CCU/ICU, study population, the period during which the study is conducted, and the criteria. There is little data on contributing factors of AKI in critically ill patients are available in our country. So, the researcher chose the topic with the intention that this study result help to modify the treatment process of patients who are suffering from acute kidney injury in CCU & also helps in the prevention of AKI among CCU admitted patients.

Materials & patients
A descriptive survey research design was used for this study. A non- probability purposive sampling technique was used to select the subjects. Patients who stay more than 48hours in the Critical Care Unit were selected and those with end-stage renal disease, who are aneuric, non-CKD patients with a baseline creatinine concentration of more than 3.4mg/dl CKD patients who were on maintenance dialysis were excluded from the study. Incidence of Kidney Injury assessed through record analysis with the help of KIDGO guideline [6]. Contributing factors for AKI were assessed through record analysis with the help of structured Performa. These developed record analyses Performa were validated by 7 experts and tested for reliability through intra rater reliability with Cohen’s Kappa formula and the value was 1. Permission was taken from the Institutional Ethics committee. Informed consent was taken from subjects/subject’s relative before data collection. Data collection started after the patient was admitted to the critical care unit. The data collection continued till the patient stayed in the critical care unit or it may be terminated when the patient was discharged, shifted out from the critical care unit, or after death. Data collected during the period of October 2019-February 2020. In this study incidence of acute kidney disease refers to  the  incidence  of  acute  kidney  injury according to KDIGO guidelines among those participants who are admitted to the critical care unit. As per Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guideline AKI is defined as anyone criteria like- 1. Increase in Serum Creatinine by more than equal 0.3 mg/dl (more than equal 26.5 micro mol/l) within 48 hours. 2. Urine volume < 0.5 ml/kg/h for longer than 6 hours. Contributing factors refer to some factors responsible for the development of acute kidney injury among patients in this study. The contributing factors are age, sex, history of comorbid conditions such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, cardiovascular disease, and the patient has undergone surgery during ICU stay, fluid volume status, sepsis, use of a nephrotoxic drug, urinary tract infection, urinary tract obstruction, ventilator support, use of vasopressor, etc.

Frequency and percentage were calculated to describe the demographic variables of the participant and Categorical variables were compared using either the Chi-square or Fisher’s exact  test when appropriate. Statistical descriptions and tests above were performed using the SPSS version 17.0.1 (SPSS Inc; Chicago, IL, USA). A P- a value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.

Results
From Table 1 it is evident that the majority (70 %) of CCU admitted patients are from 50-70 years of age group 72 % are male and 30% of admitted patients are smokers. The majority (65 %) of admitted patients have co-morbidity HTN and 60 % have DM and 28 % have sepsis during CCU admission (Table 2). 30 % of CCU admitted patients have received antibiotics and 40 % received vasopressor agents (table 2). Table 3 depicts that positive fluid balance is there for the majority (82 %) of the patients and CCU stay is 6-10 days for 62 % of CCU patients. The data presented in fig-1 shows that the  AKI incidence rate is 20 %. Data in Table 4 reflects that the baseline Cr level 0.8-1.2mg/dl for 60 % AKI patients and peak Cr is 1.3-3.4 for 70 % of AKI patients and Urine output < 0.5ml/kg/hr. for longer than 6 hours for 60 % of AKI patients. Figure 1 shows that AKI incidence is 20 % and AKI incidence is associated with contributing factors like- co-morbidity of HTN, Cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, sepsis, UTI, ventilator support, use of vasopressor agent, baseline creatinine level, and use of nephrotoxic drugs like antibiotics during ICU admission (Table 6).

Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of Socio-demographic characteristics. N =100

Characteristics

Frequency

Percentage

Age in year

 

 

21-30

2

2

31-40

6

6

41-50

18

18

51-60

32

32

61-70

38

38

≥ 70

4

4

Gender

 

 

Male

72

72

Female

28

28

Addiction

 

 

Smoking

30

30

Alcohol

10

10

  Smoking & alcohol   12   12
  Tobacco      8     8
  No addiction   40   40

Table 2: Frequency and percentage distribution of selected illness characteristics. N =100

Illness characteristics

Frequency

Percentage

Co-morbidity

 

 

HTN

 

 

Yes

65

65

No

35

35

DM

 

 

Yes

60

60

No

40

40

Cardiovascular disease

 

 

Yes

18

18

No

82

82

Chronic liver disease

 

 

Yes

10

10

No

90

90

Chronic Kidney disease

 

 

Yes

6

6

No

94

94

Urinary tract obstruction

6

6

Yes

6

6

No

94

94

Undergone any surgery during critical care unit stay

4

4

Yes

4

4

No

96

96

Sepsis

 

 

Yes

28

28

No

72

72

Urinary tract infection

 

 

Yes

14

14

No

86

86

Use of Nephrotoxic drugs

 

 

Antibiotics

30

30

Antihypertensive

8

8

NSAID

13

13

Use of vasopressor

 

 

Yes

40

40

No

60

60

Table 3: Frequency and percentage distribution of selected illness characteristics. N =100

Characteristics

Frequency

Percentage

Fluid volume status

 

 

Positive

82

82

Negative

18

18

Ventilator support

 

 

Invasive

82

82

Non-invasive

18

18

Days of critical care unit stay

 

 

1-5 days

6

6

6-10days

62

62

11-15days

25

25

Above 15 days

7

7

Table 4: Frequency and percentage distribution of creatinine level and urine output during critical care unit stay for AKI patients. N =20

Criteria

Frequency

Percentage

Urine   output   <0.5ml/kg/hr.             for

longer than 6 hours

Yes

12

60%

No

8

40%

Baseline Cr level (mg/dl)

 

 

0.8-1.2

12

60%

1.3-2.8

6

30%

Above 2.8

2

10%

Peak level of creatinine (mg/dl)

 

 

1.3-2.3

8

40%

2.4-3.4

7

35%

3.5-4.5

3

15%

4.6-5.5

2

10%

Figure 1: Pie diagram showing percentage of incidence of acute kidney injury among CCU admitted patient.

Table 5: Chi-square computed between incidences of acute kidney injury with selected demographic variables. N=100

Sl No

 

Demographic characteristics

 

Occurrence      of                          acute kidney injury

Chi-square value

P Value

 

AKI

Non-AKI

1.

Age

 

 

4

 

22

0.467

.494

 

After Yates correction

 

21-50

 

 

 

0.159

.689

51-≥70

 

16

58

2.

Gender

 

 

14

 

58

0.049

.823

Male

 

Female

 

6

22

3.

Addiction

 

 

10

 

50

1.041

.307

 

Present

 

 

Absent

 

10

30

 

 

Table 6: Chi-square computed between incidences of Acute kidney injury with selected illness characteristics N=100

 

Sl No

 

Illness characteristics

Occurrence                          of                          acute

kidney injury

Chi-square value

P Value

AKI

Non-AKI

1.

Co-morbidity HTN

 

 

12

 

53

 

 

3.943

 

 

.047

Present

Absent

8

12

Co-morbidity DM

 

13

 

47

 

 

0.260

 

 

.609

Present

Absent

7

33

Co-morbidity

Cardiovascular disease

 

 

 

 

35.223

 

 

<.00001

Present

12

6

Absent

6

76

Co-morbidity

Chronic Kidney disease

 

 

16.001 with Yates correction                         is 12.067

.000063

 

 

.0005

Present

5

1

Absent

15

79

Co-morbidity

Chronic Liver disease

 

 

 

 

6.25

 

 

.012

Present

5

5

Absent

15

75

 

 

2.

Urinary                  tract obstruction

 

 

 

 

0.709 with Yates

correction 0.099

.399

with

Yates             correction is 0.099

 

Present

2

4

Absent

18

76

3.

Sepsis

 

 

 

21.875

 

<.00001

Present

14

14

Absent

6

66

4.

Fluid volume status

 

15

 

67

 

 

.829

 

 

.362

Positive

Negative

5

13

5.

Urinary tract infection

 

8

 

6

 

14.036

 

<.0001

Present

Absent

12

74

6.

Ventilator support

 

 

 

17.344

 

 

<.00001

Invasive

10

72

Non-invasive

10

8

7.

Use     of     Nephrotoxic

drug

 

 

 

 

Antibiotics

 

 

36.011

With                     Yates correction 32.812

<.00001

Present

17

13

Absent

3

67

Antihypertensive

 

 

 

.026

 

Present

4

4

4.891 With Yates

correction 3.065

.079 (with Yates

correction)

Absent

16

76

 

NSAID

 

 

16.114 With Yates correction

13.268

.00006

.00027 (with Yates correction)

 

Present

8

5

 

Absent

12

75

8.

Use of Vassopressure

 

 

 

 

6.510

 

 

.010

Yes

13

27

No

7

53

9.

Days of Critical care

unit stay

 

 

 

 

0.735

 

 

.391

1-10days

12

56

11- >15days

8

24

10.

Baseline Cr level

 

 

8.197

.004

0.8-1.2

12

70

1.3-2.8

6

10

Above 2.8

2

0

Discussion
The present study found that the incidence of AKI is 20 % and it is supported by the study H. E. Wang et al [7] study. Samimagham HR et al8 study showed that the incidence of AKI is 31.1 %. On the other hand, a review article on Epidemiology of Acute Kidney Injury in the Intensive Care Unit by James Case et al [9] showed that the overall incidence of AKI in the ICU is approximately 20-50 %. The variation of incidence rate may be due to the inconsistency of AKI definition, different study populations & different CCU setups. The incidence of AKI in the present study is similar to Hoste EA et al [10] study which is the 1st multinational epidemiological study in the ICU using the KDIGO criteria.

Our study revealed that there is a significant association between the incidence of acute kidney injury and its contributing factors like co- morbidity of HTN, Cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, sepsis, UTI, ventilator support, use of vasopressor agent, baseline creatinine level, and use of nephrotoxic drugs during ICU admission (antibiotics). Our study findings are supported by the study Markos Kashiouris et al [11] where they revealed Acute Kidney Injury is associated with hypertension, sepsis, use of vasopressors/inotropes, higher baseline creatinine level and use of nephrotoxic drugs, etc. Markos Kashiouris et al [12] studies also showed AKI incidence is  associated  with  older  age,  diabetes,  heart failure, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, higher severity of disease scores, high-risk surgery, emergency surgery, use of intra- aortic balloon pump, and longer time in cardiopulmonary bypass pump. This study did not show any association between ages, diabetes, and days of critical care unit stay and there is a lack of published study from where we get the evidence but Maria Moschopoulou et al [12] study revealed that Diabetes mellitus does not affect the incidence of acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery. Regarding age, Xu L et al [12] study concluded that the AKI risk does not increase with age in older adults, except for those aged 75 and above. In the present study, only 4 subjects are from > 70years of age and maybe that is why this study did not find any relationship between age and incidence of AKI like Xu L et al [13] study.

This study has several strengths and limitations. Firstly, a single laboratory was used, limiting interlaboratory error. Secondly, these studies used most recently & conscientious criteria to define AKI. Regarding, limitations, Firstly, the method of estimating baseline and peak SCr may have overestimated the proportion of patients who were classified with AKI. Secondly, BMI could not consider as a contributing factor as there was a lack of provision for weight measurement.

Conclusion
The incidence of AKI is 20 %. Co-morbidity of HTN, Cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, sepsis, UTI, ventilator support, use of vasopressor agent, baseline creatinine level, and use of nephrotoxic drugs during  CCU admission (antibiotics)   are associated with the incidence of AKI. So, the study results may be used to modify CCU policies to improve CCU care and ultimately reduces medical care costs.

Source of funding: The study was self-funded.

Declaration: No conflict of interest

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