14 Renal & Urology News
JULY/AUGUST 2021
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Half of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Have Complications
BCG Timing Not a Factor in Response
Male sex, increasing age, and preexisting conditions increase the risk
THE TIME INTERVAL from transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) to onset of bacillus Calmette– Guérin (BCG) induction does not affect therapeutic response, according to data presented at the European Association Urology 36th congress. BCG induction is conventionally administered after a recovery interval following TURBT to avoid complications related to systemic absorption, but timing of BCG instillation after TURBT has never formally been studied, and there exist no data to inform appropriate intervals after TURBT to administer induction BCG, said investigator Patrick Hensley, MD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, who reported study findings.
COMPLICATIONS IN various organ systems develop in half of adults admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, even in young, previously healthy individuals, a new study finds. Of 73,197 patients aged 19 years or older admitted to UK hospitals with severe COVID-19 from January 17 to August 4, 2020, 49.7% had 1 or more in-hospital complications within 28 days, particularly those requiring critical care (82.4%) or mechanical ventilation (91.7%), Ewen M. Harrison, MBChB, PhD, MSc, of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and colleagues reported in The Lancet. Overall, 31.5% of patients died, including 40.1% with any complication.
Every Age Group Affected The incidence of in-hospital complications increased with age, from 39% of those aged 19-49 years to 51% of those aged 50 years and older, the investigators reported. Specifically, a complication developed in 27%, 37%, and 43% of patients aged 19-29, 30-39, and 40-49 years hospitalized with COVID-19, respectively. By comparison, a complication developed in 49%, 54%, 52%, 51%, and 50% of older patients aged 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80-89, and 90 years or more, respectively. Men, who comprised 56% of the cohort, were more likely than women to experience a complication, particularly older men: 49% vs 37% of those younger than 60 years and 55% vs 48% of those aged 60 years or older. White, South Asian, and East Asian ethnic groups had similar rates of complications, but rates were highest among Black adults: 58% Black vs 49% White patients. According to Dr Harrison’s team, in-hospital complication rates with COVID-19 seem the same or higher than with influenza, and appear to be driven by noninfectious complications. The most common complications included renal (24.3%), complex respiratory (18.4%), and systemic complications
(16.3%), but cardiovascular (12.3%), gastrointestinal (GI) and liver (10.8%), and neurological (4.3%) complications were also reported. Acute kidney injury (AKI; 15.6%), probable acute respiratory distress syndrome (15.6%), liver injury (11.3%), anemia (9.0%), and cardiac arrhythmia (4.8%) were the most prevalent conditions (data reflect patients with no preexisting illnesses). The investigators found that increasing age and male sex predicted the development of any and all organ-specific complications, except for GI and liver complications, which were more likely to affect younger patients. The presence of any and multiple complications increased the odds of poor survival. For example, more patients with than without cardiovascular or respiratory complications died.
Complications worsen patients’ ability to self-care after discharge. The predefined categories used in the study limited capture of some important complications, such as pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis.
Comorbidities Play a Role Among the hospitalized patients, 81% had an underlying health condition. Chronic cardiac disease, chronic pulmonary disease, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) were the most common. Complication rates increased with the number of comorbidities from 38% to 47% to 55% in patients with 0, 1, and 2 or more comorbidities, respectively. The investigators found that patients with a preexisting condition affecting a specific organ had a higher risk of having a complication involving that same organ. A cardiac complication, for
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example, more frequently developed in patients with than without preexisting cardiac disease (19.9% vs 8.9%). AKI developed in more patients with than without CKD (39.8% vs 21.6%). Liver injury was more common in patients with preexisting moderate to severe liver disease compared with those without liver problems (22.4% vs 6.2%).
Self-Care Hindered Among survivors, having an acute complication was associated with 2.4-fold increased odds of worse self-care ability after hospital discharge. Even 13% of patients aged 19-29 years and 16% of those aged 30-39 years were less able to perform self-care at discharge, the investigators reported. In descending order, neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, and GI complications were associated with significant 4.4-, 3.6-, 2.2-, 2.1-, and 2.0-fold increased odds of worse self-care ability. “We found respiratory and cardiovascular complications were associated with greatest [COVID-19] severity and acute kidney injury was one of the most common,” Dr Harrison’s team stated. “Treatments such as enhanced monitoring and early treatment for patients for cardiac arrhythmias that might lead to further problems such as stroke or cardiac arrest might, therefore, be useful. Similarly, for acute kidney injury, optimising fluid balance to ensure adequate renal perfusion in patients with less severe respiratory disease might lessen the impact of acute kidney injury.” In an accompanying editorial, Xiaoying Gu, MD, and Bin Cao, MD, of the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases in Beijing, China, commented, “Comprehensively understanding the health effects of COVID-19 from its acute to chronic stages is important, not only for the preparation of further waves of the pandemic, but also for assessing the burden on health-care systems due to COVID-19 consequences.” ■
Early administration is safe in properly selected patients, according to a study. He and his colleagues studied 518 patients with nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer who received adequate BCG therapy at a median 26 days from TURBT. BCG intolerance developed in 45 patients (9%) at a median 12th instillation. When time from TUR to BCG instillation was stratified into quartiles, the investigators found no significant difference in recurrence-free survival (RFS), progressionfree survival (PFS), and BCG intolerance. For patients in the first (6-19 days), second (20-26 days), third (27-34 days), and fourth quartile (35-188 days) of time from TURBT to BCG induction, median RFS times were 77, 111, 65, and 59 months, respectively. On multivariate analysis, time from TURBT to BCG induction was not a significant predictor of RFS and PFS either when analyzed by quartile or as a continuous variable. Dr Hensley concluded that early administration in properly selected patients is safe, and delays do not affect therapeutic response. ■
Renal & Urology News will cover the 2021 annual meeting of the American Urological Association, September 10 to 13. Go to www.renalandurologynews.com for daily reports on noteworthy studies.
