COVID-19 and acute kidney injury in German hospitals 2020

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This study analyzed German hospitalization data from 2020, finding that acute kidney injury occurred in 10.9% of COVID-19 patients and was associated with a 3.87-fold increased risk of in-hospital mortality.

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This nationwide retrospective study used German hospital reimbursement (G-DRG) data from 2020 to examine hospitalizations in people aged >15 years with RT-PCR–proven COVID-19 and concurrent acute kidney injury (AKI stages 1–3), calculating age-specific and age-standardized hospitalization and in-hospital mortality rates. Among 154,170 COVID-19 hospitalizations, AKI occurred in 16,773 (10.9%), with male patients showing higher AKI risk than females, and renal replacement therapy used in 3,443 hospitalizations (20.5% of AKI cases). Overall in-hospital mortality for COVID-19 hospitalizations was 19.7%, and the relative risk of in-hospital mortality was 3.87 when AKI occurred; age-standardized COVID-19 hospitalization rates showed a bimodal pattern while AKI-related mortality changes were less pronounced in autumn than spring. A key limitation is that the analysis relied on aggregated claims/reimbursement data with coding-defined AKI, and differentiations by federal state and some granularity beyond predefined age/gender groups were not possible. This paper does not explicitly discuss endometriosis or adenomyosis; it was included in the corpus via a keyword match in the upstream search index.

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Abstract

Introduction The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is a major challenge for patients, healthcare professionals, and populations worldwide. While initial reporting focused mainly on lung involvement, the ongoing pandemic showed that multiple organs can be involved, and prognosis is largely influenced by multi-organ involvement. Our aim was to obtain nationwide retrospective population-based data on hospitalizations with COVID-19 and AKI. Materials & Methods We performed a query of G-DRG data for the year 2020 via the Institute for the hospital remuneration system (Institut für das Entgeltsystem im Krankenhaus GmbH, InEK) data portal and therefore included hospitalizations with a secondary diagnosis of RT-PCR proven COVID-19 infection, aged over 15 years. We included hospitalizations with acute kidney injury (AKI) stages 1 to 3. Age-specific and age-standardized hospitalization and in-hospital mortality rates (ASR) per 100.000 person years were calculated, with the German population of 2011 as the standard. Results In 2020, there were 16.776.845 hospitalizations in German hospitals. We detected 154.170 hospitalizations with RT-PCR proven COVID-19 diagnosis. The age-standardized hospitalization rate for COVID-19 in Germany was 232,8 per 100.000 person years (95% CI 231,6-233,9). The highest proportion of hospitalizations associated with COVID-19 were in the age group over 80 years. AKI was diagnosed in 16.773 (10,9%) of the hospitalizations with COVID-19. The relative risk of AKI for males was 1,49 (95%CI 1,44-1,53) compared to females. Renal replacement therapy (RRT) was performed in 3.443 hospitalizations, 20,5% of the hospitalizations with AKI. For all hospitalizations with COVID-19, the in-hospital mortality amounted to 19,7% (n= 30.300). The relative risk for in-hospital mortality was 3,87 (95%CI 3,80-3,94) when AKI occurred. The age-standardized hospitalization rates for COVID-19 took a bimodal course during the observation period. The first peak occurred in April (ASR 23,95 per 100.000 person years (95%CI 23,58-24,33)), hospitalizations peaked again in November 2020 (72,82 per 100.000 person years (95%CI 72,17-73,48)). The standardized rate ratios (SRR) for AKI and AKI-related mortality with the overall ASR for COVID-19 hospitalizations in the denominator, decreased throughout the observation period and remained lower in autumn than they were in spring. In contrast to all COVID-19 hospitalizations, the SRR for overall mortality in COVID-19 hospitalizations diverged from hospitalizations with AKI in autumn 2020. Discussion Our study for the first time provides nationwide data on COVID-19 related hospitalizations and acute kidney injury in Germany in 2020. AKI was a relevant complication and associated with high mortality. We observed a less pronounced increase in the ASR for AKI-related mortality during autumn 2020. The proportion of AKI-related mortality in comparison to the overall mortality decreased throughout the course of the pandemic.
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Abstract

22

Introduction

23 The SAR S-CoV-2 pandemic is a majo r challenge for patien t s , healthcare p rofess ion a ls , and 24 populat i o ns worldwide. Whil e ini t i al repo rt ing focused mainly on lung involv ement, th e 25 ongoing pandemic sho wed t hat m ultiple or gans ca n be inv o l ved, and p r ognosi s i s la r gel y 26 influenced by m ulti-organ involvem ent. Our aim w a s to obtain nationwide retr os p ec t iv e 27 populat i o n -bas ed d a t a on hospitaliz ation s with COVID -19 and AKI . 28

Materials

& Methods 29 We perf ormed a quer y of G -D RG data for the y ear 2020 v ia the Instit u t e f or the ho s pit a l 30 rem unerat ion sys t em (Institut fü r d as Ent gel t system im Krankenhaus Gmb H, InEK) data 31 por tal and th erefo r e inc lud ed hospitaliz ation s with a s econdar y dia gno si s of RT-P CR proven 32 CO VID -19 inf ec t ion, a ged over 15 yea r s . We included hospitaliz at ions with acute ki d ney 33 injury (AKI) s t ages 1 t o 3. A ge-s pe cific and a ge-stand a r diz ed ho spitaliz ation and in-ho s pital 34 mor tali ty r ates (A SR) per 100.000 per s o n year s w er e calcula t ed, wit h t he German 35 populat i o n o f 2011 as t he s t a n dard. 36

Results

37 In 2020, there wer e 16.776 .845 ho sp italizations in G er man hospitals. W e detected 154.170 38 hospitaliz at ions wit h RT-PCR proven COVID -19 diagno si s . The age-standar diz ed 39 hospitaliz at ion rat e for COVID- 19 in Germany wa s 2 32,8 per 100. 000 per son years (95% CI 40 231,6-233 ,9) . The highe st propor tion o f hospitalizations a ssociated with CO VID- 19 were in 41 the age group over 80 years. AK I w as diagno s ed in 16.773 (1 0,9%) o f th e hospitaliz at ions 42 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 3 with C OV ID-19. The relative r is k o f AKI for males was 1,4 9 (95 %CI 1, 44- 1,53) compar ed to 43 females. Renal r eplac em ent t herapy ( RRT) was per formed in 3.443 hospit aliz ations, 20 ,5 % 44 of t he hos p i t ali zations with A KI. For all hos pit ali zations with C OVID - 19, the in-h os pit a l 45 mor tali ty amount ed to 19,7% (n= 30 . 300) . The r elative risk f or in-hospital mor tali ty wa s 3 ,87 46 (95%CI 3 ,80-3 ,9 4) when AKI oc c u rred. The age-standar diz ed hospitalization rat e s for CO V ID-47 19 took a bimodal cour s e during the obse r vation period. The fir s t pea k oc curr ed in Apr i l 48 (ASR 23,95 per 100.0 00 per son year s (95%CI 23 ,58-2 4, 33)), ho spitaliza t ion s peak ed again in 49 Nove m ber 2020 (7 2,8 2 per 100.00 0 person year s (95% CI 7 2, 17-73, 48)). The standar diz ed 50 rat e rat ios (SRR) f o r AKI an d AKI-rela t ed m or tal ity with the o v er a ll A SR for CO V ID-19 51 hospitaliz at ions in t he de nominat or, decreased throu ghout the ob s er v at ion per iod and 52 rem a ined lower in au tumn than they were i n spring. In contr as t t o all CO V ID-19 53 hospitaliz at ions , the SRR for overall m ortality in C O V ID-19 ho spitaliz at i o ns diverged from 54 hospitaliz at ions with A KI in autumn 2 020. 55

Discussion

56 Our stud y f or t he fir s t time pr ovid es nationwide data on COVID -19 r el at ed hospitaliz at ions 57 and acute kidney injury in Germany in 2020. AKI was a relevant compl ication and ass o ciated 58 with high mo r tali ty. W e observed a less prono unced increase in the A SR for AKI- rela ted 59 mor tali ty during aut umn 2020. The pr oport i on o f AK I-relat ed m o rtali t y in compar is on t o th e 60 overall m or tal ity decreas ed t hrougho ut the cour s e of t he pandem ic. 61 62 63 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 4

Introduction

64 The SAR S-CoV-2 pandemic is a majo r challenge for patien t s , healthcare p rofess ion a ls , and 65 populat i o ns worldwide. Whil e ini t i al repo rt ing focused mainly on lung involv ement, th e 66 ongoing pandemic sho wed t hat m ultiple or gans ca n be inv o l ved, and p r ognosi s i s la r gel y 67 influenced by multi-organ involv ement. According t o publis hed dat a, the kidney is the 68 s e c o n d m o s t i n v o l v e d o r g a n . I n a s t u d y f r o m t h e N e w Y o r k C i t y a r e a , 2 2 , 2 % o f h o s p i t a l i z e d 69 patient s s h ow ed a cute k idn e y injury (AKI) (1). A m eta-analy s i s ( 2) confir med the h i gh AKI 70 r a t e a m o n g C O V I D - 1 9 p a t i e n t s . I n c o n t r a s t t o t h i s , t h e r e i s a l s o d a t a w i t h l o w e r i n c i d e n c e o f 71 AKI( 3,4) espe ci ally ear ly analysi s fr om Wuhan, Ch i n a did no t show high inc idence rates of 72 AKI (3–5) . H owever, diffe ren t def ini tions of AKI complica t e com parability. In crit ic ally il l 73 patient s w it h CO VID -19 a s man y a s 55 t o 90% exper i en c ed AKI ( 6–8), of whom 21 to 3 7 % 74 r e q u i r e d r e n a l r e p l a c e m e n t t h e r a p y ( R R T ) ( 6 , 8 , 9 ) . T h e m o r t a l i t y r a t e s o f p a t i e n t s w i t h a c u t e 75 kidney injury ar e si gnif i cant l y h igher than in patien t s with out A KI. In a study b y Chan et al . 76 (9), t he in-hospital mor ta lity was 50% amo ng patients with, ver su s 8 % amo ng those wi t hout 77 AKI. A n analysis b y Fisher et al. (8) fo und similar mo r tal ity rat es (52% vs. 1 9.6%). In addition, 78 the length o f s t ay ( L OS) wa s mar k ed ly pr olonged when AKI occ u rred ( 9,10). 79 The German healthcare s ys t em offer s compr ehens ive insurance cover ag e and , b y 80 inter nat ional c o mpar ison, a high le vel of heal t hcare s er v ices. Th rough out t he CO V ID-19 81 pandemic t here were no apparent ac ut e care r es our ce limitat ions, and the ho s pit a l 82 capa c it i es were at their li mit but no t overwhelmed. Nationwide un s electe d dat a , es pecially 83 covering a longer time int er val is n ot available. Ther e is one ob s er v at ional study, whic h 84 included 10.02 1 ho s p i t ali zations (11 ). The data fr om this stud y wa s ob t ai n ed f rom on e 85 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 5 German h e alt h insurance compan y a n d covered a s hor t period o f time (fr om Febr uary 26 86 until A pril 19, 2020). In this s t ud y, AKI was not addres s ed. 87 Our aim was t o obtain nationwide retrospective popu l at ion -based data on hospitaliz at ions 88 with CO V ID-19 and A KI. Our quer y c overed data fr o m the year 2020 an d contains , to our 89 knowledge, the most c om prehensive dat a regarding patients with COVID- 19 and AK I in 90 Germany. 91

Materials

& Methods 92 Data Source 93 In accor dan c e with the German Hospital Financ in g Act (KH G ) , a univer sal , per formance-94 based remun eration system was introd uc ed for gener al hospital servic es. The basis for t his 95 is the G er man-D i agnosis Related G r oups s ys tem (G-D RG system), where by ea ch inpatient 96 ca s e of tr eatment is r emuner a ted by m ea n s of a cor responding DR G rate. All hospitals 97 submit their hos p i t aliz ation dat a to the Institut e for t he hos pit al r em uner ation s ystem 98 (Institu t für das Ent gelts ystem im K ra nkenhaus G mb H, InEK). A fter s ubm is sion, a plausi b i lit y 99 contr ol of t he data is carried o ut by In EK. The s ub mission of hos pi t al ization d a t a is 100 mandat ory for r eimbursement of hospital s t ays. Thi s lead s to a stro ng ince nt i ve for hospitals 101 to supply complet e data, covering vir tu a lly every hospital in Germ a n y . Th e transfer red da ta 102 include i n for m a t ion on age, sex, discharge type, prim a r y a n d seconda ry ICD -10- GM(12) 103 coded diagno sis (In ternat ional Classifica t ion of D is ease s , 10t h Edition, Ger m a n Modification 104 Ver s ion 2020) and p e r for med oper ations and pr oc ed ures ( Operation en- und 105 Pro z edur enschlü ss el V ersion 2 020, O PS) (13). We per formed a query of G-D RG data for the 106 year 2020 via t he InEK data port al ( http s :// dat enbrowser.inek.or g/). T he InEK data are 107 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 6 avail able in ag gr egated for m, so that diffe r ent iation by federa l stat e is no t pos s ible. 108 Dif fer ent i ation by age can on l y be m ad e i n the pred e f ined age groups and differ en tiati on b y 109 gender only indirectly. The G-D RG data provided by InEK hav e been des c r ibed in det a i l 110 els ewher e (14). 111 Cohort selection 112 We incl u ded hospitaliz at ions w it h a sec o ndar y diagno si s of RT-PCR proven CO V ID-19 113 infection (ICD -10-GM: U07.1), aged over 15 ye ar s . We ex cluded hospi taliz at ions 15.525 114 (9,1%) with hos pit al t ransfer and un k nown dischar ge statu s fr om our a n al ysis. We identified 115 hospitaliz at ions w it h ac u te kidney injury by t heir corr es pon ding I CD-1 0-G M codes ( S1 116 Table). We i n c luded ho s pit a lizations wi t h ac u te kidney i n jur y s t ag e s 1 to 3 (A KIN 1 t o 3) (1 5). 117 We furt her s earched for OPS code s indicating hem odial ysi s and me chanical ve n tilation (S1 118 Table). The survival stat us at the end o f each ho spitaliz ation was obt a i n ed by dischar ge 119 type. The observation per iod was fr om 01.02.20 20 thr oughout 31.12.2 020 . 120 Statistical analysis 121 We c al culated crud e , a ge- s pe cific and age-s t andardized hospitaliz at ion rates (A S R ) pe r 122 100.000 per son years and the respe c t iv e 95% confidence int ervals (95% CI) . We u sed the 123 standard population of Germany in 2011 (16), provided by t he Federal Bureau of Statistics 124 (D ES TA TI S), f or direct a g e- s t andardi za t ion (S2 Table). We fur ther calc u lat ed standar diz ed 125 rat e ratios (SRR ), with t heir r es pe ctive confiden c e i n tervals . Continuou s var i ables are 126 repo rted with standar d devia tion (SD). Categor i cal data is repor ted in absolute number s and 127 percent a ges . We u s ed t he I CD-1 0 v er s ion o f the Elixhau s er comorbidit y in d ex (EC I) to a s s e s s 128 comorb i d i t ies ( 17). We excluded a cut e kidney injur y a s a comorb i d i t y . All data analysi s wa s 129 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 7 carried out usin g R ( Ver sion 3.6. 3) (1 8), fo r dir ec t age- s t andardization t he epitools pac kage 130 (19) was u s ed, cont i n g en cy tables wer e ev aluat ed us ing t he epiR pac ka ge (20). 131 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 8

Results

132 General characteristics and age-standardized rates 133 In 2020, there wer e 16.776 .845 ho sp italizations in G er man hospitals. W e detected 154.170 134 hospitaliz at ions with RT-PCR pr oven COV ID-19 d i agno sis throu g h out the ob s er v at ion period . 135 There were 79.781 (51,8%) male and 74.382 (48,2 %) female pat i ent s hospitaliz ed, 136 respectively (Table 1). In 29.329 (19,0%) of the COVID- 19 a s s ociated hospitaliz at ions the 137 tr eatmen t included an int ensiv e ca r e unit (ICU) s t a y. The age-standar dized hos pit al ization 138 rat e f or CO V ID-19 in G er many was 2 32 ,8 per 100.0 00 person year s (95% CI 231,6-23 3,9) in 139 2020. M os t ho s p i t aliz ations (1 394, 1 p er 100.00 0 per s on year s ) o ccur red in th e ag e gr oup of 140 80 year s a n d older (Fig 1). 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 9 A KI ICU Ove r all N 16. 773 2 9.32 9 1 5 4. 1 7 0 Gende r % n % n % n ma l e 6 1, 5 ( 1 0.3 08) 62, 6 (1 8. 361 ) 5 1 , 8 ( 79. 781 ) fem a le 3 8,5 ( 6.4 6 3) 37, 4 (1 0. 965 ) 4 8 , 2 ( 74. 382 ) A ge gr oup ( y e a r s) % n % n % n 16 -1 7 0,0% 1 0,1% 38 0,3% 472 18 -2 9 0,4% 70 1,7% 49 3 4,0% 6143 30 -3 9 0,7% 112 2,8% 82 9 5,3% 8185 40 -4 9 1,9% 326 5,8% 17 04 7,5% 11601 50 -5 4 2,6% 443 5,8% 16 88 6,2% 9537 55 -5 9 4,5% 754 7,9% 23 12 7,5% 11602 60 -6 4 6,8% 1134 9,6% 28 18 7,7% 11858 65 -7 4 20,3% 3408 21 ,8 % 63 98 16,5% 25418 75 -7 9 17,0% 2851 14 ,6 % 42 82 11,7% 18045 80 + 45,8% 7674 29 ,9 % 87 67 33,3% 51309 le n g th of s ta y (d ays, SD) 1 8,4 ( 1 6 , 9) 1 8, 3 ( 1 6,7) 11, 3 ( 1 1,9) El ix hau ser c o mo r b i d ity ind e x ( %, n) % n % n % n 0 60 ( 1 0 . 0 41) 6 5 ( 1 8.9 1 8) 6 5 ( 9 9. 78 3) 1 – 4 24 ( 4 . 0 2 9 ) 2 5 ( 7. 18 6) 2 5 ( 3 9. 11 7) >=5 16 ( 2 . 7 0 3 ) 1 0 ( 3. 22 5) 1 0 ( 1 5. 27 0) me a n (S D) 2,0 ( 3,8) 1, 6 ( 3, 8 ) 1, 2 ( 3, 1) Table 1. G ener al char act e r is t ics of C O VID -19 hospitaliz ation s in Ge r man y 2 020. 151 ICU: intensiv e care unit - hos p i t aliz ati on s with inten s ive c ar e treat men t du r ing the hospital 152 sta y, AKI: a cute kidney i n j u ry - ho spitaliz at i o ns with acute kidney injury (A cut e k idney injur y 153 networ k St age 1- 3), SD: standard deviation 154 155 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 1 0 Fig 1. Age-spe c ific rat es of C OVID -19 hospitaliz at ions in Germany 2 020 (pe r 100.000 per son 156 years) 157 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 1 1 Hospital incidence of acute kidney injury 158 Acute kidney injur y, in cluding AKI Stage s 1-3, was dia gnose d i n 16.7 73 ( 10, 9%) of the 159 hospitaliz ed c a se s wi t h C OVID -19. Th e A S R for AKI was 25. 8 (95% CI 25. 4-26.2) per 100.00 0 160 person year s ( Table 2). W h i le men and wom en we r e equally d istr ibuted among t hos e 161 h o s p i t a l i z e d f o r C O V I D - 1 9 , m e n w e r e m o r e a f f e c t e d b y A K I t h a n w o m e n . T h e r e l a t i v e r i s k o f 162 AKI for m al es wa s 1,4 9 (95% CI 1, 4 4-1,53) compar ed to females hos pit al iz ed with C O V ID-19 163 (S2 Table). W e det ermined 10.310 (61,5%) m al e and 6.463 (38, 5%) female hospitaliz at ions 164 with acute k idn ey injury , respe ctively (Table 1). The propor tion of the se ver ity o f acute 165 kidney injury wa s d istr ibuted as follo ws: 32 ,0% (n= 5.40 7) developed A KI Stage 1, AKI St a ge 166 2 was present in 27,4 % ( n= 4.625) and in 40,6% (n= 6.842) AKI St ag e 3 was c o ded. There 167 were 101 hospitaliz ation s with more than one c od e fo r AKI. When acute k idn e y i n jury wa s 168 present du ring hospital s t a y, 8.3 74 (4 9,9 %) n e ed ed i n tensi ve care. Furt her mo re, mechanic al 169 ventilat ion was requir ed i n 7.0 50 (4 2, 0 %) ho spitaliz at i o ns with acute kidne y injur y (Table 2). 170 The relative r i sk for hos pit ali zations with AKI t o be t r eated in an int ensive c ar e unit was 3 ,27 171 (95%CI 3 ,21-3 ,3 4) (Table 3). 172 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 1 2 A K I I C U O v e r a l l n % n % n % Overall 1 6.773 (10 ,9%) 29.329 (19,0%) 154 .170 (- ) R e n a l re p l a c e m e n t therapy 3.4 43 (20,5%) 3.046 (10,4%) - males 2.6 35 76 ,5% 2.335 76,7% - - females 808 23 ,5% 711 23,3% - - I n - h o s p i ta l m o r ta l i ty 9.717 (57 ,9%) 12.322 (40,6%) 30. 300 (19,7 %) males 6.2 83 64 ,7% 7.990 64,8% 17.635 58, 2% females 3.4 34 35 ,3% 4.330 35,2% 12.665 41, 8% AKI Stage s 1 5.4 07 32 ,0% 1.865 20,3% - 2 4.6 25 27 ,4% 2.011 21,8% - 3 6.8 42 40 ,6% 5.333 57,9% - Chronic kidney disease 5.524 (32 ,9%) 5.365 (18,3%) 23. 380 (15,2 %) G3 3.6 38 21 ,7% 3.225 11,0% 15.270 9,9 % G4 1.4 90 8, 9% 1.084 3,7% 4.535 2,9 % G5 396 2, 4% 1.056 3,6% 3.575 2,3 % Mecha nical ventila t ion 7.050 (42 ,0%) 17.144 (58,5%) - males 5.0 52 71 ,6% 11.508 67,1% - females 1.9 98 28 ,3% 5.634 32,9% - A g e - s t an dar di z e d r at e (per 100.0 00 PYRs, 95% CI) 25, 8 (25,4-26 , 2) 44 ,0 (43,5-4 4 ,5) 232,8 (2 31,6-233,9 ) 173 Table 2: Results CO VID -19 ho spitaliz at ions in Germany 202 0, 174 ICU: intensive c are unit - hospitaliza tions with int e n s ive care t reatment d ur ing the ho s pit a l 175 sta y, AKI: a cute kidney injur y - hospitaliz at i o ns with ac ut e kidney injur y (acute kidney injur y 176 networ k, S t age 1- 3), 95 %C I: 95 % c on f i d enc e int erva l, PYRs: per s o n year s 177 178 179 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 1 3 180 ICU N on- IC U O v er a ll N % N % n AKI 8.374 49,9 8.3 99 5 0,1 16.773 Non- AKI 20.955 15,3% 116 .442 8 4,7% 137.397 Overall 29.329 19,0% 124 .841 8 1,0% 154.170 Dec ea s ed Alive O v erall N % N % N AKI 9.717 57,9% 7.0 56 4 2,1% 16.773 Non- AKI 20.583 15,0% 116 .814 8 5,0% 137.397 Overall 30.300 19,7% 123 .870 8 0,3% 154.170 181 Table 3: Contingenc y table for AKI an d risk of ICU a d mi ssion or in-hospital mor tali ty, 182 ICU: intensiv e care unit - hos p i t aliz ati on s with inten s ive c ar e treat men t du r ing the hospital 183 sta y, AKI: a cute kidney i n j u ry - ho spitaliz at i o ns with acute kidney injury (a c ute kidney injury 184 networ k, S t age 1- 3) 185 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 1 4 Renal replacement therapy 186 When acute kidney injur y was pr e s ent , renal replac em ent t herapy (R RT) was perfor med in 187 3.443 hos pit al izations, 20 ,5% of h os pit al izations with AKI and 2,2% of a ll C O V ID-19 188 asso ciated hospitalizations. Furth erm or e, when RRT was condu cted, m ec h anical ventilat ion 189 was need ed i n 2.380 (69,1 %) ca s e s. The modality of r enal replace ment t h erapy was 190 inter m ittent R RT in 230 ( 6,7% ) , and continuous o r p rolongend intermitt end RRT in 3.213 191 (93,3%) hospitaliz at i o ns , re spec t iv ely. In 828 (24, 0%) ho s pitalizations mor e t han on e 192 pro c edur e c o de i n dic at i n g RR T w a s present. 193 Chr onic kidney di s ea se (C KD St ages 3 to 5) was present in 23.380 ( 15. 2 % ) hospitaliz at ions 194 with A KI. We ob served 3.638 (21 ,7% ) hospitaliza t ions with AK I and CKD S tage G3, in 1.4 90 195 (8.9%) hospitalizations C KD G4 w a s pr evalent and 396 (2,4 % ) had CKD G5, r espec t iv ely. 196 In-hospital mortality 197 198 For all hos pit al izations w it h C O V ID-19, the in-ho s pital mortali ty amoun t e d t o 19 ,7% (n= 199 30.300). O f these, 58, 2% (n= 17.635) were m en and 41,8% (n=12.665) we r e women (Table 200 2), r es pectively. The relat i ve ris k fo r in-hospital mortality fo r men amo un t ed t o 1,30 (95%CI 201 1,27-1,3 3) comp ared to women ( S 3 Table). The A S R for in-ho s pital mo rtali ty wa s 4 7,7 202 (95%CI 47, 2- 48,3) per 100. 000 per so n year s. M o s t death s (51 1,2 per 100. 000 per s on year s ) 203 were observed in t he age g r oup over 8 0 year s of a ge ( F ig S1). When AK I was present, 9 .717 204 died, accounting fo r 57,9% of deaths in this grou p (Table 2), t he relati ve ris k f or in-ho s pital 205 mor tali ty was 3, 87 (95% CI 3,8 0-3,9 4) when AKI occurred (Table 3). M oreover, when 206 hemodialysis was perfor med, 2.891 died, which amo unts t o 61,4% of al l hospitaliz at ions 207 with RRT. 208 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 1 5 209 Length of stay 210 The mean length of s t ay (LOS) for hos pit ali zations with C OVID-1 9 was 1 1,3 da y s ( S D 1 1,9). 211 When acute kidney i n jury wa s code d, t he LO S incr ea sed to 18,4 day s ( SD 16,9) . For c ase s 212 that had a n IC U sta y the mean LO S w as 1 8, 3 d ay s (SD 16 ,7) ( Ta b l e 1) . 213 Time course of hospitalization rates and in-hospital mortality 214 215 The age- standar diz ed hos p i t aliz ation rates f or C O V ID -19 took a b i m odal course dur ing the 216 observation p eriod. The first peak of A SR occ u rred i n Apri l 202 0 (23,95 p er 100.000 per s on 217 years (95 %CI 23 ,58-24, 33) ), after th e ASR r os e steadily beginning in Feb ruar y . Sub sequent ly , 218 ASR for COVID-1 9 ho s pitalizations peak ed ag ain in N o v emb er 2020 (7 2,82 per 1 00.0 00 219 person years (95% CI 72, 17-73,4 8) ). In comparison to t he first peak , ASR ro s e steadily f or two 220 mont hs bef ore reaching the highest r at es (Fig 2A). 221 The A S R for AKI and AK I-re lated mo rt ali t y took a flatter cur v e, but o v erall fol low a s imilar 222 bimodal course. The ASR fo r AKI and AK I-relat ed m ortal ity r eac hed t heir peak in Mar c h 2 020 223 (for AK I 3,4 per 100.000 p erson years (95% CI 3,27-3, 55), which wa s al s o when AKI- rela ted 224 mor tali ty reached 2,07 (95 %CI 1 ,96- 2 ,18), respe ctively ) . In N ovember 2020 ASR tipp e d ag ain 225 when ASR fo r AKI stood at 8,07 per 100.000 per s o n year s (95 %CI 7,8 5-8 ,2 9), and the A SR for 226 AKI- relat ed mortality rose to 4,65 (95 % C I 4 ,4 9-4,8 2)) (Fig 2A). 227 The standard i zed r a t e ra tios (SRR) fo r A KI and AKI -re lated m or talit y wit h t he overa ll A S R f or 228 CO VID -19 hospitaliz at ions in the denom ina tor, ac t ual ly decr ea sed t hroughout the 229 observation period (Fig 2B) and r emained lower in autum n t han t hey wer e in s pr ing . In 230 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 1 6 contr as t to t his f i n ding, the A SR and in par ticular th e SRR for overall mort ality in C O V ID-19 231 hospitaliz at ions r os e sharply a gain as early as Sept ember 2020 (Fig 3A and 3B) . 232 The distr ibution of age grou p s var i ed thr oughout the observation period . In par tic u l ar , the 233 age group of 80 year s and above wer e most pr ev a lent in the m ont hs of Ap ril, November an d 234 December ( F ig S4). H ospitaliz at i ons in which AKI wa s c od ed, were pro p ort i o nat ely mu c h 235 older, with t he 80 years and abo v e ag e group b ei n g t he most repr es ent ed ( Fig S5) . 236 Fig 2: A) T im e c ou rse of age- standard i zed r ates (per 100.0 0 person years) of o v er al l 237 hospitaliz at ion, AKI and AKI-r el at ed mort a lit y for CO V ID-1 9 in Germany (202 0); B) 238 Standar diz ed r ate r a tios (SRR) of AKI age-s t andardized rat es ( per 100.0 0 person year s) and 239 AKI- relat ed mort al ity in relation t o the overall a ge- s tand ardize d COV ID -19 hos pit ali zation 240 rat e in German y (2 020) 241 Fig 3: A) T im e c ou rse of age- standard i zed r ates (per 100.0 0 person years) of o v er al l 242 hospitaliz at ion and over a ll m o rt a li t y for CO V ID-19 in G er man y (2020); B) Stand a r diz ed rate 243 rat i o s (SRR ) of ov erall mo rta lity age-standar diz ed r ates (per 100.00 p erson yea r s ) in relation 244 to t he ov erall a ge- s tand ardize d CO V I D-19 hospitalization rat e i n Germ a n y ( 2020) 245 Comorbidities 246 The Elixhaus er c o morbidit y index (EC I) varied a mong t he di ffe ren t group s . The mean EC I for 247 all CO V ID-19 a s s o ciated hospitalizations wa s 1, 2 (SD 3,1). For ho s pitalizations requiring 248 i n t e n s i v e c a r e t h e m e a n E C I w a s 1 , 6 ( S D 3 , 8 ) . W h e n a c u t e k i d n e y i n j u r y w a s p r e s e n t t h e E C I 249 increased t o 2 ,0 (SD 3 ,8) . In general, the four mos t comm on coded co mor bidi ties were 250 uncomplicated hyper tensi o n (35,3%), fluid and electr o ly t e dis or ders (20,6 %), uncomp l icated 251 diabetes mell itus (13,3%) and car dia c arr hythmias (10,0%) (Fig 4). When acute kidney injur y 252 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 1 7 or an IC U stay were coded, cardia c a r rhyth mias were r elative l y mo re pr eva lent comp a r ed t o 253 all hos p i t ali zations with COVID -19 (Fi g S 2 , S3). 254 Fig 4: Relative f requ encies o f c o morbidities in COVID- 19 ho s pit al izations in G er many 2 020. 255 chf: c on gesti ve heart failure; carit: c a rdiac arrhythmias ; v a l v: v a lvular d i s ea s e; pcd: p ulmonary circulati on 256 disorders ; p vd: perip h eral v asc ular d isorde rs; h ypunc : hypertensi on - uncomp lic a t e d; hypc : hypertensi on 257 - comp licated ; para: paral y s is ; ond: other ne urol og i c a l dis orders; c pd: c hronic p ul mona r y diseas e ; 258 d i a b u n c : d i a b e t e s - u n c o m p l i c a t e d ; d i a b c : d i a b e t e s - c o m p l i c a t e d ; h y p o t h y : h y p o t h y r o i d i s m ; l d : l i v e r 259 disea s e ; pud: pe ptic ulcer dis e ase- ex c l u din g ble e di n g ; aids : A I D S / HIV; l y mp h: l ympho ma ; metacanc: 260 meta s tatic c an c e r; s o li dtum: so l id tumou r: w i t h out m etast a s i s ; rheumd: rhe u mato id arthritis/ collaged 261 va s cula r dis e ase ; coag: coa g ul op athy ; obes: obe sity ; w loss : w e ight l o s s; fed: fluid a n d e le c trolyte 262 disorders ; b la ne : bloo d los s a n aem i a; da ne : de f ic i enc y a n aem i a; a l c ohol: a l c ohol ab u s e; drug : dru g a bu s e ; 263 psycho: psycho ses; depre: dep r e s s ion ; 264 265

Discussion

266 Our s t udy f or the first tim e pr ov ides nationwide data on CO V ID-1 9 h ospitalizations and 267 acute kidne y injury in G erm any in 2 0 20. The ke y findings that emerge fr om our data ar e as 268 follows. The highes t pr oport ion of h ospitalizations as s o ciated wi t h C O V I D -19 were in th e 269 age gr oup over 80 years . The g ender distr ibut ion was equal in C OVID -19 related 270 hospitaliz at ion, however, we ob s erve d that m en mor e oft en deve l o ped ac ute kidney injur y 271 (RR 1,49 (95%CI 1, 44-1,53)), needed ICU c are and h a d a higher ris k of in- hospital m orta lit y 272 (RR: 1,30 (95% CI 1 ,27-1,3 3)) than women. O u r results thu s ex hibit a gender bias . Thi s i s 273 con s istent with a meta-analysis inc l uding 3.111 .714 C OVID- 19 a s s o ciated hospitaliz at ions 274 worldwide, which iden tified male sex as a ris k fa ctor for death and ICU-admis sion, d espite 275 the gender ratio being equal at the time of admis sion ( 21). Dif ferent under lying 276 mechanism s - from hor monal, genetic to behavioral ef fects and r i s k fa c t or prevalence – 277 have been dis cu s s ed in t he li t eratu r e (21,22). 278 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 1 8 Ov er all, 19 % of all h os pit a lizations needed intensiv e care tr eatment. This fraction wa s 279 part ic ular ly high in patient s with acute kidney injury. This finding is in line with other s t udies 280 (23,24) . Ther e are no cl ear ly defined criter ia fo r ICU admi s s ion in C O V I D-19 hospitaliz ed 281 patient s . Germany po s se sses t he h ighes t c apacit y of i n tensi ve care beds in all OE CD-282 countr ies . D es pit e t he pr esumably higher availa b i l it y of ICU capa city, this f ac t did not lead to 283 higher ut i lization of these c ap a cities. This could be an indicator t hat t he percent a ge of 284 critically ill patient s was similar compar ed to di fferent countr ies (23) . 285 O c cur ren ce of AKI con siderably differ s in previous studies, part ly du e t o a diff erent 286 definiti o n o f AKI. Our anal ysi s s howe d that 10.9% of all ho s pitalizatio ns experienced acute 287 kidney i n j u ry. The incidence of AKI in this nat i o nal series is lower than what has been 288 repo rted i n regionally confined stu die s f rom t h e Unit ed Stat es ( 8,9,23). A meta - a n a lysi s by 289 Ga b a r re et al. (2) r endered si m il ar r es ult s to our figur es . The y ob served an a ver ag e AKI 290 incidence of 11% (95% CI 8–1 7%) ov er all, wi t h highest ranges in the c r itically ill (23% (95%CI 291 14– 35%)). Nevert hel es s, the a ge s t ructur e, ris k f a c t or pr ev alence and th e burden of CO V ID-292 19 during the o bs er v at i on period di ffer relevan tly between count r ies and the AKI rate is 293 ther efo re on l y compar able t o a li mite d extend. 294 A lar ge p ropo r tion of pa t ie n ts with acute kidney inju ry suffered s evere ki d ney injury (A KIN 295 Stage 3: 40,6 %) , this is con si s t ent wi th prev ious findings (9). In the gr oup of h os pit al ization 296 with AKI 49 ,9% requir ed ICU adm is s ion compar ed to 15,2 % of patients witho ut A KI. The 297 relativ e r is k t o be tr ea ted in an ICU w as 3 ,27 f or AK I pat ients. M oreove r, i n th e gr oup wi th 298 AKI, 42, 0 % requir ed mechanical ve n tilati on. D ata fr om t he early phase of t he pandemic in 299 New Yor k state estimat ed that 53,6% of AKI pat i en ts needed in vasi ve ve nt il at i on (10) . This 300 higher num bers are lik ely ref lec t i ve o f m ore sev er e d is ease outcome s in patients with AKI. 301 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 1 9 RRT wa s r equired in 2,2% o f all hos pitalizations. Amo ng patien t s wi t h A KI 20, 5% r equired 302 RRT. Thi s figure i s c on sistent with d a t a from var i o us studies (6,9 ,25). The major ity (88,5%) of 303 the RRT wa s per formed in t he intens ive c are unit. 69, 1 % of all patient s r equiring dial ysi s 304 needed i n v asive ven tilat ion. Simi lar f i n dings w er e r eported in a mu lti -cent er cohor t stud y 305 fr om th e United S t a tes (6). Pr ev iou s studies sugge sted t hat t here is an asso cia t ion between 306 mechanical vent il at ion, AKI and RRT. R RT often occur s aroun d time of in t u bation, sug ge s t i n g 307 a role for a ltered hemodynamics in this situat ion ( 6,10). Hence, vasop r es sor s are often 308 initiat ed ar ound this time. 309 The over al l in-hospital m o rtal ity for CO V ID-19 a ssoci at ed hospitalizat ions vary a cros s 310 different count ries and coho rts, s h o w ing dif ferences i n t es t ing and case identification, 311 variable th r es holds for h os pit a lizati on and staff capacities . Ther efore, diff er ences in in-312 hospital mort a l it y r anged bet ween 1 5 t o 20% (26,27) . Our analy s i s sh owed that 30.300 313 (19.7%) o f hospitaliz ation s with C O V ID -19 ult ima tely decea sed, of 154.17 0 initia lly adm it ted 314 to hospital. In-hospital m orta lit y was 57. 9% among patients wit h AK I versus 15% amon g 315 those wi t hout AKI. This f i n ding under lines the poo r pr ognosis of these pat ients and the 316 sev er ity of disea se. 317 The age-standar diz ed hos p i t ali zation rate due to COVID- 19 in 2020 wa s bim odall y s haped, 318 with peak rat es i n Apr i l and N ovem b er. This o bs er v at ion is congruen t with the inci d enc e 319 figures r eport ed by th e Robert Koch In s t i t ute ( 28). The f irst peak with inc r eas in g m ortalit y 320 rat es in M ar ch and Apr i l wa s followed by a de cline in mor tality r ates a nd a concomitant 321 decrease in hospital admiss ions. Similar r es u l t s hav e a lr eady been d emons t rated in v a r ious 322 studies fr om ot her c o untries. In a dat a-analysi s fr om t he Unit ed S t ates a decr ea se i n the 323 risk-adju sted mor tal ity was ob served, ranging fr om 16.56 % to 9.29% in the early per iod of 324 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 2 0 this stud y (J anuary t hrough A pril 202 0) compared wit h the la t er pe r iod ( M ay thr ough June 325 2020) (2 9). Further , national ICU data fr om the Unit ed Kingdo m – pub lis hed a s a prepr int up 326 to now - conf i rmed thi s finding. The a uth ors found a redu c t i o n in m ort al it y r ates fro m 41,4 % 327 in March 20 20 to 24 ,8% in June 2 020 (30). The under lying reason fo r t he dec r eas e of 328 mor tali ty r a t es i s not obvious and cert ai n l y multifactor i al. O ne i m port a n t factor was 329 certainly th e c on comit ant decline in the incidence rate in t he UK and the U S. For ex am ple, a 330 large US s t udy of health i n s ur anc e d a t a, involv ing more t han 38.517 pati ent s , r eveal ed tha t 331 the s t rongest det erminant of i mprovements in in-hospital outcome wa s a d ecline in 332 communit y rates of inf ection (29) . Other reasons might be a s hif t i n dem ographics , 333 experience in physici an s t o early dia gnose and t reat C O V ID-19 patients, hospitals and staff 334 became les s overwhelmed dur i n g time. In our data during the s e cond peak in COV ID-19 335 hospitaliz at ions , whic h wa s more pronoun c ed than the f i r s t , th e in-hosp ital m orta lity rate 336 increased s t eadil y f rom Sept ember to December and exc eeded the CO VI D -19 asso ciated in-337 hospital mor tality in M arch and A pril mar kedly (5,36 per 10 0.000 person year s in A pril and 338 16,15 per 100 .0 00 p erson year s in D e c emb er). One c an on l y spe cula t e about th e f ac t ors that 339 led t o th i s devel opm ent. One, b ut cert ainly not the o nly, ex p l anat ion co uld b e a d ifferent 340 age dis t ribution of pat i ents adm itte d to t he hos pit al with a higher proport ion o f olde r 341 patient s in November and D ecember, as in our data ( F ig S 4, Fi g S 5) . F u rther , multiple factor s 342 might have influenced in- hos p i t al m or tali ty. The in creas in g number of patients in need of 343 critical care could hav e overwhelmed h os pit al s r e gi o nal ly, which happen ed fo r example in 344 Sax o ny, G er man y in D e cember 2020. A s alr eady mentioned, an Americ an s t udy ha s s hown 345 that hos pit al s did be tt er when t he pr eva lence o f COVID -19 in their s ur rounding 346 communit i es w as lower (29). Anot he r c ont ribut ing factor could hav e be en s t aff shor tages 347 driven b y CO V ID-19 infections, school lockdown s, quar a n tine regulat i o ns and the neces s it y 348 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 2 1 to t ake c ar e of relativ es infected with C O V ID-19 or in quarant ine. I n contr as t to the 349 developmen t dis cu s s ed above, th e ASR for AKI and AKI -rela ted m ortali ty had a 350 dispropor tionate ly smaller increase and were alr eady dec lining in D ecember. The a ge 351 distribut ion in our cohor t was s im ilar among all hospital ized patients , with a higher 352 pro porti o n of el d erly patient s i n the s e cond p eak in O c t ober, November and D e c em ber in 353 comparison to F eb ruary, M ar ch and Apr i l. Thu s , diff erences in age distr ib ution is not a good 354 explanation f or this finding (S4 Fig and S5) . At t his point , it must be s aid again th a t multip le 355 factor s could h a ve inf luenc ed the A S R for AKI und AKI-r ela ted mort ality. Ap art from 356 differences in th e p atient population or age distribut ion, change s in th e t reatm ent strategy - 357 e.g., th e early u se of dr ug ther apies f or pat ien ts with an incr eased r isk of s evere C O V ID-19 358 course s . 359 The mean length of s ta y (L OS - di scharged or dead) of all patients w as 11,3 da ys and 360 increased w it h AKI to 18,4 d a ys. LO S varies i n d i f feren t s t udies , and - according to a 361 s ystemat ic r ev iew by Rees et al. (31) - the median LOS was 14 da y s in Chin a, c o mpared with 362 5 (IQR 3–9) day s outside of China. Similar f igur es wer e r eport ed by Fi sher et al. (8). This m ay 363 be explained by many differences in c r iteria fo r ad miss ion and d i s char ge between count ries , 364 and d i f fe rent tim ings in the cour s e of t he pandemic. H ospital capaci t ies in G er many were 365 not o v er whe lmed by the pandem i c, and t he pr ess u re to dischar ge patients might have b een 366 lower. The m os t c om prehensive a nalysis of G er man patient s t o dat e included 10.021 367 patient s with a mean L OS of 1 4, 3 d a ys (32). This w a s longer than i n our analy si s , an 368 explanation fo r the dis cr epancy co uld be timing of data collec t ion. Karagiannidis et a l. 369 collec t ed their data at t he beginning o f th e pandem ic. D ue to an increasing experience in 370 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 2 2 tr eating C O V ID-19 patient s and new tr eatmen t op t ions, t he lengt h o f stay c onsequent ly 371 declined. 372 The ob s er ve d comor bidities varied between the differ ent gr oups. H yper tension, dia b etes 373 melli tus, fluid and e lectrolyt e dis o rd ers and c ar diac arrhyt hmias w er e the most commo nly 374 coded comor bidities . Th i s finding is plausible, as t hes e ar e the mo s t c om mon comor bidi ties 375 in patients with chronic kidney diseas e (3 3) and l ikewi se kno wn risk fac t or s for 376 hospitaliz at ion wit h C O V ID-19 (34) . Car dia c arr h yt hmias be came more pr ev alen t in 377 hospitaliz at ions w it h AKI. Cardiac arrh yt hmias are a common f inding in COVID -19, in 378 part ic ular w it h an i n c r eas ing number of comorb i d i ties (35) . 379 Str engths and limit ations 380 The major s t rength of th i s study is th at we provide a nat i o nwi d e popula ti on- bas ed v iew on 381 CO VID -19 ho s pit al izations with a c ut e k idn ey injur y in Germany . W e re t rieved DRG-data 382 covering virt ually every hospital in Germany. In th i s stud y, we u se r outine h os pit al ization 383 data, which is lac king c linical detail. T his might lead t o confound i n g t hat we could not adjust 384 for . The InEK provides aggre gated data du e to da ta safety pr ec aut ions , whi ch is f ully 385 anonymized. It is , th erefor e, possi b l e that th i s c ould lead t o bias cause d by readmis s ion, 386 thou gh this pos sibil it y i s limited, b ec ause of the s ever i t y of most ca s e s a nd our efforts to 387 exc lud e readmis s ions fr om the dat aset . Another imp or tant f ac t to consid er, when anal yzi n g 388 rou tine dat a , is the ob s er v at i o n peri od . In ou r analysis t he observation period ends in the 389 midst of the second wave of the CO VID -19 pandem i c in G er many. Thi s w ill lead t o bias, as 390 the outcome of thes e c a se s remains unknown, i n part i cular for hospitaliz at i o ns i n the la st 391 mont h of the observation p eriod. 392 393 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 2 3 394 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 2 4

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Coromilas EJ, Ko c hav S , G oldenthal I, B iv iano A, Garan H , Goldbarg S, et al . 512 W or ldwide Survey of C O V ID-19 As s o ciated A rrh y t hmias . Circulation: Arr hythmia and 513 Elec t rophysiology . 2021; (Mar ch): 28 5 –95. 514 515 516 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 3 0 Supporting information 517 S1 Fig . A ge- s pecific mort ali t y rates of CO VID- 19 hos p i t ali zations in G er many 202 0 (per 518 100.000 per s on year s) 519 S2 Fig. Relative freq u enc ies of com orbidi ties in COVID -19 hospitalizat ions w it h AKI in 520 Germany 2 020. 521 chf: c on gesti ve heart failure; carit: c a rdiac arrhythmias ; v a l v: v a lvular d i s ea s e; pcd: p ulmonary circulati on 522 disorders ; p vd: perip h eral v asc ular d isorde rs; h ypunc : hypertensi on - uncomp lic a t e d; hypc : hypertensi on 523 - comp licated ; para: paral y s is ; ond: other ne urol og i c a l dis orders; c pd: c hronic p ul mona r y diseas e; 524 d i a b u n c : d i a b e t e s - u n c o m p l i c a t e d ; d i a b c : d i a b e t e s - c o m p l i c a t e d ; h y p o t h y : h y p o t h y r o i d i s m ; l d : l i v e r 525 disea s e ; pud: pe ptic ulcer dis e ase- ex c l u din g ble e di n g ; aids : A I D S / HIV; l y mp h: l ympho ma ; metacanc: 526 meta s tatic c an c e r; s o li dtum: so l id tumou r: w i t h out m etast a s i s ; rheumd: rhe u mato id arthritis/ collaged 527 va s cula r dis e ase ; coag: coa g ul op athy ; obes: obe sity ; w loss : w e ight l o s s; fed: fluid a n d e le c trolyte 528 disorders ; b la ne : bloo d los s a n aem i a; da ne : de f ic i enc y a n aem i a; a l c ohol: a l c ohol ab u s e; drug : d r ug a b us e ; 529 psycho: psycho ses; depre: dep r e s s ion ; 530 531 S3 Fig. Relative frequencies of comorbidi t ies in C O V ID-19 hospitaliz at i o ns with ICU 532 tr eatmen t in Germany 2020. 533 chf: c on gesti ve heart failure; carit: c a rdiac arrhythmias ; v a l v: v a lvular d i s ea s e; pcd: p ulmonary circulati on 534 disorders ; p vd: perip h eral v asc ular d isorde rs; h ypunc : hypertensi on - uncomp lic a t e d; hypc : hypertensi on 535 - comp licated ; para: paral y s is ; ond: other ne urol og i c a l dis orders; c pd: c hronic p ul mona r y diseas e ; 536 d i a b u n c : d i a b e t e s - u n c o m p l i c a t e d ; d i a b c : d i a b e t e s - c o m p l i c a t e d ; h y p o t h y : h y p o t h y r o i d i s m ; l d : l i v e r 537 disea s e ; pud: pe ptic ulcer dis e ase- ex c l u din g ble e di n g ; aids : A I D S / HIV; l y mp h: l ympho ma ; metacanc: 538 meta s tatic c an c e r; s o li dtum: so l id tumou r: w i t h out m etast a s i s ; rheumd: rhe u mato id arthritis/ collaged 539 va s cula r dis e ase ; coag: coa g ul op athy ; obes: obe sity ; w loss : w e ight l o s s; fed: fluid a n d e le c trolyte 540 disorders ; b la ne : bloo d los s a n aem i a; da ne : de f ic i enc y a n aem i a; a l c ohol: a l c ohol ab u s e; drug : dru g a bu s e ; 541 psycho: psycho ses; depre: dep r e s s ion ; 542 543 S4 Fig . Per centage distribu tion of age gr oups during th e ob s er va t ion period (Ov er all CO V ID-544 19) 545 S5 Fig . Per c en tage di s tr ibution of age gr oups d uring the observation per iod (AKI) 546 S1 Table. L ist of ICD -10- GM and O PS Codes, ver s ion 2020 547 S2 Table. Contingen cy table AKI by sex 548 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint 3 1 S3 Table. Contingen cy table in-hospital mor tal ity by s ex 549 . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseIt is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review) The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted June 4, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.21256331doi: medRxiv preprint

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