tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
BMC Public Health
. 2025 Jan 17;25(1):210.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21422-2. Kidney failure-related excess mortality during the first three years of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: a nation-wide, population-based analysis
Zhenhu Chen[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Pingping Jia[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 4 [/SUP], Di Xie[SUP] 5 6 [/SUP], Jingyu Xie[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Juan Liu[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Wangnan Cao[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Lefei Han[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Jinjun Ran[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Shengzhi Sun[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Shi Zhao[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Yang Ge[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Leonardo Martinez[SUP] 14 [/SUP], Xin Chen[SUP] 15 [/SUP], Peihua Cao[SUP] 16 17 18 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Background: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on the healthcare system. Patients with kidney failure and related kidney disease are notably vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it remains unclear how mortality trends associated with kidney failure have evolved over the past three years. In this study, we investigated temporal trends in excess kidney failure-related mortality during the first three years of the pandemic in the United States.
Methods: We aim to estimate time-varying excess kidney failure-related mortality, which is defined as the difference between observed mortality and expected mortality predicted by a Poisson log-linear regression model, in the United States (March 2020-March 2023).
Results: Our findings revealed two distinct peaks in excess kidney failure-related mortality during the first year (March 2020-February 2021) and the second year (February 2021-March 2022), whereas a notable decline in excess mortality was observed in the third year (March 2022-March 2023). Additionally, disparities in mortality were evident among various demographic groups, including age, sex, racial/ethnic subgroups, and geographic regions. Across all age subgroups, an increase in kidney failure-related mortalities was observed, with individuals aged 85 years and above experiencing the most substantial relative increase, reaching 9595.8 per million persons (95% CI: 9438.8, 9752.9). Moreover, excess kidney failure-related mortalities were recorded at 510.3 per million persons (95% CI: 502.6, 517.9) and 721.8 per million persons (95% CI: 713.4, 730.1) for women and men, respectively. Notably, non-Hispanic Blacks exhibited the highest excess mortality within the racial/ethnic group, registering at 772.6 per million persons (95% CI: 756.3, 788.9).
Conclusions: Our study observed high levels of excess kidney failure-related mortality during the first two years of the pandemic, followed by a notable decline in the third year. This highlights the effectiveness of current policies and prevention measures implemented to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19; Excess mortality; Kidney failure; Temporal pattern.
. 2025 Jan 17;25(1):210.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21422-2. Kidney failure-related excess mortality during the first three years of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: a nation-wide, population-based analysis
Zhenhu Chen[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 2 3 [/SUP], Pingping Jia[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 4 [/SUP], Di Xie[SUP] 5 6 [/SUP], Jingyu Xie[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Juan Liu[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Wangnan Cao[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Lefei Han[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Jinjun Ran[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Shengzhi Sun[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Shi Zhao[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Yang Ge[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Leonardo Martinez[SUP] 14 [/SUP], Xin Chen[SUP] 15 [/SUP], Peihua Cao[SUP] 16 17 18 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 39833787
- PMCID: PMC11745008
- DOI: 10.1186/s12889-025-21422-2
Background: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on the healthcare system. Patients with kidney failure and related kidney disease are notably vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it remains unclear how mortality trends associated with kidney failure have evolved over the past three years. In this study, we investigated temporal trends in excess kidney failure-related mortality during the first three years of the pandemic in the United States.
Methods: We aim to estimate time-varying excess kidney failure-related mortality, which is defined as the difference between observed mortality and expected mortality predicted by a Poisson log-linear regression model, in the United States (March 2020-March 2023).
Results: Our findings revealed two distinct peaks in excess kidney failure-related mortality during the first year (March 2020-February 2021) and the second year (February 2021-March 2022), whereas a notable decline in excess mortality was observed in the third year (March 2022-March 2023). Additionally, disparities in mortality were evident among various demographic groups, including age, sex, racial/ethnic subgroups, and geographic regions. Across all age subgroups, an increase in kidney failure-related mortalities was observed, with individuals aged 85 years and above experiencing the most substantial relative increase, reaching 9595.8 per million persons (95% CI: 9438.8, 9752.9). Moreover, excess kidney failure-related mortalities were recorded at 510.3 per million persons (95% CI: 502.6, 517.9) and 721.8 per million persons (95% CI: 713.4, 730.1) for women and men, respectively. Notably, non-Hispanic Blacks exhibited the highest excess mortality within the racial/ethnic group, registering at 772.6 per million persons (95% CI: 756.3, 788.9).
Conclusions: Our study observed high levels of excess kidney failure-related mortality during the first two years of the pandemic, followed by a notable decline in the third year. This highlights the effectiveness of current policies and prevention measures implemented to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19; Excess mortality; Kidney failure; Temporal pattern.