#Nearly half of coronavirus patients at NYC hospital developed kidney issues

Nearly half of coronavirus patients admitted to Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital developed acute kidney problems — even though the vast majority had never had any issues with the organ before, according to a new report.

The find came in a study of nearly 4,000 pandemic patients to pass through the hospital between Feb. 24 and May 30, CNBC reported Monday.

Forty-six percent of patients developed some sort of kidney injury during their COVID-19 battles, the study found.

For 17 percent, the affliction was so severe that they required dialysis — and more than a third of patients who beat the virus didn’t regain the same kidney function they had before.

And most of the patients who developed problems — 82 percent — had never experienced any prior issues with their kidneys, according to the study.

Dr. Alan Kliger, co-chair of the American Society of Nephrology’s COVID-19 Response Team, told the network that the finding is hardly limited to Mount Sinai.

“What we have observed is that approximately 10 percent to 50 percent of patients with severe COVID-19 that go into intensive care have kidney failure that requires some form of dialysis,” Kliger told CNBC.

There’s no one explanation for exactly how the virus decimates the kidneys.

Some biopsies have found that the virus directly affects the organ, Kliger said.

Other evidence shows that COVID-19 can trigger a “cytokine storm” — an overreaction by the immune system that hurts one’s kidneys and other vital organs in the process of trying to fight off the contagion.

In some extreme cases, the coronavirus can trigger sepsis, and with it, multiple organ failure, according to Kliger.

There is also evidence that life-saving ventilators can have the unintended side effect of restricting blood flow through the kidneys, potentially damaging them even as they see patients through the virus’ respiratory attacks.

Dr. Steven Coca, associate professor of nephrology at Mount Sinai Health System, told CNBC that once the coronavirus is defeated, the next battle will be against its lingering effects on survivors’ kidneys.

“Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen the highest rate of kidney failure in our lifetimes,” he told the network. “The next epidemic will be chronic kidney disease in the US among those who recovered from the coronavirus.”