Heliyon
Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2021, e06008
Journal home page for Heliyon

Review article
Kidney diseases and COVID-19 infection: causes and effect, supportive therapeutics and nutritional perspectives

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06008Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Abstract

Recently, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has attracted the attention of scientists where it has a high mortality rate among older adults and individuals suffering from chronic diseases, such as chronic kidney diseases (CKD). It is important to elucidate molecular mechanisms by which COVID-19 affects the kidneys and accordingly develop proper nutritional and pharmacological strategies. Although numerous studies have recently recommended several approaches for the management of COVID-19 in CKD, its impact on patients with renal diseases remains the biggest challenge worldwide. In this paper, we review the most recent evidence regarding causality, potential nutritional supplements, therapeutic options, and management of COVID-19 infection in vulnerable individuals and patients with CKD. To date, there is no effective treatment for COVID-19-induced kidney dysfunction, and current treatments are yet limited to anti-inflammatory (e.g. ibuprofen) and anti-viral medications (e.g. Remdesivir, and Chloroquine/Hydroxychloroquine) that may increase the chance of treatment. In conclusion, the knowledge about kidney damage in COVID-19 is very limited, and this review improves our ability to introduce novel approaches for future clinical trials for this contiguous disease.

Keywords

COVID-19
Kidney diseases
Nutritional supplements
Multi-organ failure

Cited by (0)