Risk factors for acute renal injury in intensive clinical patients

Objective: Identify the prevalence and associated factors of acute renal injury in intensive clinical patients and compare them with a control group; analyze if the coexistence of factors serves as a predictor for the risk of developing acute renal injury. Method: Case-control study with a quantitative approach, developed at a general adult intensive care unity in the interior of Sao Paulo, Brazil, involving 205 patients who developed acute renal injury and the same number of controls, during 2014 and 2015. Data were collected through a survey of patient file records. Relationships were statistically significant if p<0.05. Results: The prevalence of acute renal injury was 7.5% and the main associated factors were: arterial hypertension (p=0.004; OR=1.9615; CI=1.0491-3.6645); hypovolemia (p=0.006; OR=5.6071; CI=1.6382-19.1854); heart failure (p=0.003; OR=5.3123: CI=1.7521-16.1051); noradrenaline (p<0.0001; OR=9.4913; CI=4.4824-20.0981); dopamine (p=0.0009; OR=3.5212; CI=1.6701-7.4242); dobutamine (p=0.0131; OR=5.2612; CI=1.4172-19.5323); and simultaneous antibiotics (p<0.0001; OR=3.7881; CI=2.0253-7.0884). The coexistence of more than three risk factors was statistically significant for acute renal injury (p<0.0001; OR=5.0074; CI=2.5601-9.7936). Conclusion: Acute renal injury is a multifactorial event associated with the baseline disease, the complications deriving from the severity of the patients' condition and the use of nephrotoxic drugs. Having three or more risk factors increased the chances for the development of the disease.