Clinical Spectrum of Community-Acquired Acute Kidney Injury: A Prospective Study from Central India

The aim is to study the epidemiology of acute kidney injury (AKI), since it differs from country to country and varies from center to center within a country. Owing to the absence of a central registry, data on overall epidemiology of AKI are scanty from India. This study was conducted in an urban tertiary care center in central India with the aim to identify the etiology and outcomes as well as the factors associated with in-hospital mortality of community-acquired AKI (CAAKI) patients. A two-year prospective study of all patients with CAAKI admitted to the Nephrology Department from January 2014 to December 2015 was performed. Of the 9800 admitted patients, 286 patients (2.9%), with a mean age of 48 +/- 17.1 years, were diagnosed to have CAAKI as per our specified criteria. The most common cause of CAAKI was medical (77.27%), followed by obstetrical (13.98%) and surgical (9%) causes. Among the medical causes, hypoperfusion (57.4%) was the most common, followed by sepsis (26.69%), glomerulonephritis (8.14%), and drugs (7%). Nephrolithiasis was the most common surgical cause. Puerperal sepsis (52.5%), preeclampsia (20%), hemorrhage (17.5%), and thrombotic microangiopathy (10%) were the obstetric causes of CAAKI. The overall in-hospital mortality among patients with CAAKI was 20% and 8% of patients became dialysis dependent. Sepsis had the highest in-hospital mortality (44%). The epidemiological characteristics of CAAKI are changing rapidly. There has been an increase in the overall incidence of AKI with changing etiology in recent years. In contrast to developed nations, CAAKI is more common in developing countries. It often affects younger individuals. For early diagnosis of kidney injury and reducing the risk of poor outcome, patients should be referred to nephrologists early in the course of disease.