More than 10 percent of children hospitalized with COVID-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome, an inflammatory condition commonly known as MIS-C that in rare cases has followed SARS-CoV-2 infection, experienced acute kidney injury, according to a study published March 3 in
Kidney International. Kids with kidney damage remained in the hospital an average of eight days longer than did other children facing these conditions without the added kidney stress.
“Recognizing that kidney function contributes to outcomes post-COVID is important to think about, especially in the pediatric population. These kids are young and have a whole life ahead of them,” says Abby Basalely, a pediatric nephrologist at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, and a coauthor of the study.