Analyze the clinical features of the severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) with kidney injury

Objective To analyze the clinical features of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) with kidney injury. Methods We abstracted data on the clinical and laboratory presentation of 89 cases of SARS, specially renal function. We also assayed serum interlukin-1β(IL-1β), IL-6, tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α level in 8 cases of SARS with kidney injury, 12 cases without kidney injury and 15 healthy care workers. Postmortem examination of kidney in 2 cases without kidney injury were performed. Results 10 cases of SARS were with kidney injury. The number of serious cases with kidney injury was much more than that of slight cases, P0.01. 7 cases were with diabetes mellitus and/or hypertension,the number was statistically more than that of patients without accompanying diseases, P0.05. The lever of serum IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α was significantly higher in SARS cases than that in controls, P0.01 or P0.05. The lever of the three cytokines in patients with kidney injury was statistically higher than that in patients without kidney injury, P0.01 or P0.05. Kidney pathological observation showed no special features. Conclusions Kidney injury of SARS is associated with disease severity. Patients with basic Kidney disease were prone to have Kidney injury. Kidney injury of SARS cases may be a partial sign of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) caused by SARS.