How Severe Cases of COVID-19 can Impact the Kidneys

CLEVELAND – March 10 is World Kidney Day. The kidneys play an important role in your body, helping with things like filtering your blood and making red blood cells.

And with COVID-19 continuing to spread, the virus can put them at risk.

“Most of the time when someone gets COVID and they have chronic conditions, they end up in the hospital and their respiratory issues get worse, that is when the kidneys get involved,” explained Savag Demirjian, MD, kidney specialist for Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Demirjian said the kidneys can be impacted in a number of ways depending on the severity of COVID-19 illness.

For example, in a more extreme case, someone could suffer permanent kidney damage and may need dialysis. However, in other situations, they could have short-term stress on their kidneys, which can heal with time. In mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, they don’t suspect kidneys are affected.

With that being said, all of this can be avoided if you take the right steps for prevention and get vaccinated.

“If you follow the thought process that the kidneys often are involved when things are progressing to the worse, so anything that sort of stops that cycle from happening, can actually protect the kidneys,” said Dr. Demirjian.

He said if you recently recovered from COVID-19 and are noticing some issues with your kidneys, like not urinating enough, have swelling in your legs or are experiencing tiredness, you should consult with your physician. They can then decide the best course of treatment.