eGFR and the Risk of Community-Acquired Infections.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Community-acquired infections are common, contributing to adverse outcomes and increased health care costs. We hypothesized that, with lower eGFR, the incidence of community-acquired infections increases, whereas the pattern of site-specific infections varies.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: Among 1,139,470 health care users (mean age =52±18 years old, 53% women) from the Stockholm CREAtinine Measurements Project, we quantified the associations of eGFR with the risk of infections, overall and major types, over 12 months.

RESULTS: A total of 106,807 counts of infections were recorded throughout 1,128,313 person-years. The incidence rate of all infections increased with lower eGFR from 74/1000 person-years for individuals with eGFR=90-104 ml/min per 1.73 m2 to 419/1000 person-years for individuals with eGFR<30 ml/min per 1.73 m2 . Compared with eGFR of 90-104 ml/min per 1.73 m2 , the adjusted incidence rate ratios of community-acquired infections were 1.08 (95% confidence interval, 1.01 to 1.14) for eGFR of 30-59 ml/min per 1.73 m2 and 1.53 (95% confidence interval, 1.39 to 1.69) for eGFR<30 ml/min per 1.73 m2 . The relative proportions of lower respiratory tract infection, urinary tract infection, and sepsis became increasingly higher along with lower eGFR strata ( e.g. , low respiratory tract infection accounting for 25% versus 15% of community-acquired infections in eGFR<30 versus 90-104 ml/min per 1.73 m2 , respectively). Differences in incidence associated with eGFR were in general consistent for most infection types, except for nervous system and upper respiratory tract infections, for which no association was observed.

CONCLUSIONS: This region-representative health care study finds an excess community-acquired infections incidence in individuals with mild to severe CKD. Lower respiratory tract infection, urinary tract infection, and sepsis are major infections in CKD.