Coronavirus-Induced Chronic Kidney Disease

COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has been linked to multiple organ complications, with emerging evidence suggesting profound effects on kidney diseases, including short-term conditions like Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) and long-term conditions like Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), and glomerular diseases, have attracted significant research attention, particularly regarding the long-term and short-term effects of COVID-19[1][2][3][4].

However, it is unclear how the risk of kidney disease after COVID-19 compares with influenza, another common viral infection.

In a study, researchers analyzed commercial health insurance data from over three million working-age adults in the United States to compare 939,241 individuals with COVID-19, 199,071 with influenza, and 1,878,482 with neither infection (the control group)[5]. They found that influenza has no impact on Chronic Kidney Diseases, End-stage Renal Disease (ESRD), and glomerular diseases. However, individuals who had been infected with COVID-19 were more likely to develop kidney problems, including short-term injury and long-term chronic disease.

The researchers concluded that an infection with COVID-19 is significantly associated with increased risks of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI).

These findings suggest that COVID-19 may have a stronger impact on kidney diseases than influenza, highlighting the need for greater attention and monitoring of kidney function after COVID-19 infection.

The results of this study also highlight the importance of vaccination, though most antivaxxers will continue to keep their eyes firmly shut.

We propose to call this Chronic Kidney Disease of non-Traditional causes (CKDnT): Coronavirus-Induced Chronic Kidney Disease.

[1] Bowe et al: Kidney Outcomes in Long COVID in Journal of the American Society of Nephrology – 2021
[2] Tan et al: Long-term kidney function recovery and mortality after COVID 19-associated acute kidney injury: an international multi-centre observational cohort study in eClinicalMedicine – 2023
[3] Brogan et al: COVID-19 and Kidney Disease in Annual Review of Medicine – 2023
[4] Zhang et al: Prediction of acute and chronic kidney diseases during the post-covid-19 pandemic with machine learning models: utilizing national electronic health records in the US in eBioMedicine - 2025
[5] Zhang et al: The risk of kidney disease increases following SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to influenza in Communications Medicine – 2026. See here.