Acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute kidney injury in critically ill patients: a scoping review protocol about the lung-kidney crosstalk

ABSTRACT Introduction Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a risk factor for several adverse clinical outcomes, including mortality. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most common extrapulmonary complications in ARDS. Despite the high incidence of AKI in patients with ARDS, the lung-kidney crosstalk is not yet fully understood. Objective This scoping review aims to describe the association between ARDS and AKI in critically ill patients. Methods We will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Based on the P articipants, C oncept, and C ontext framework, we will include studies that investigated critically ill patients with ARDS ( P articipants), describe AKI-related outcomes ( C oncept), and were conducted in hospitals ( C ontext). A comprehensive literature search will be performed using the MEDLINE, Embase, and LILACS databases without date or language restrictions from database inception until January 2024. Observational studies with retrospective, prospective, and case-control designs will be considered. Two independent reviewers will screen titles and abstracts and perform full-text reviews. Data extraction will be performed by the main reviewer and checked by a second one. Data on the diagnosis of ARDS and follow-up time for AKI-related outcomes will be extracted from the selected evidence. The quantitative results will be synthesized and presented in tables and figures along with a narrative summary. Ethics and dissemination There is no ethical approval requirement for this scoping review. On completion, the review will be published in a peer-reviewed academic journal and presented at a health conference.