Clinical manifestations and outcomes of COVID-19 in maintenance hemodialysis patients of a high infectious epidemic country: a prospective cross-sectional study.

Introduction: The outbreak of COVID-19 poses great challenges for patients on maintenance haemodialysis. Here, we reported the clinical characteristics and laboratory features of maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) patients with COVID-19 in Bangladesh. Methods: Altogether, 67 MHD patients were enroled in the study from two dedicated tertiary-level hospitals for COVID-19 after the prospective cross-sectional execution of selection criteria. Data were collected from medical records and interviews. Different statistical analysis was carried out in the data analysis. Results: The mean age was 55.0±9.9 years, with 40 males (59.7%). The mean dialysis duration was 23.4±11.5 months. The most common symptoms were fever (82.1%), cough (53.7%), and shortness of breath (55.2%), while the common comorbid condition was hypertension (98.5%), followed by diabetes (56.7%). Among MHD patients, 52.2% to 79.1% suffered from severe to critical COVID-19, 48 patients (71.6%) had 26-75% lung involvement on high resolution computed tomography of the chest, 23 patients (34.3%) did not survive, 20 patients (29.9%) were admitted to ICU, and nine patients (13.4%) needed mechanical ventilation. Patients who did not survive were significantly older (mean age: 63.0 vs. 50.86 years, Conclusion: Maintenance haemodialysis patients had severe to critical COVID-19 and had a higher risk of non-survival if they were older and had comorbidities such as hypertension and diabetes. Therefore, MHD patients with COVID-19 need close monitoring to improve their outcomes.