FRIDAY, Dec. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Many American soldiers who
suffer burns and wounds during combat develop acute kidney injury,
an abrupt or rapid decline in kidney function that is potentially
deadly.
That's the finding of a study that looked at acute kidney injury
among 692 U.S. military casualties who were evacuated from Iraq and
Afghanistan to burn units.
Using two different classification systems, the researchers
found that rates of acute kidney injury were 24 percent and 30
percent among the casualties.
Those with acute kidney injury were much more likely to die than
those without it. Death rates among patients with moderate and
severe forms of the condition were 21 percent to 33 percent and 63
percent to 65 percent, respectively. The death rate for patients
who did not have acute kidney injury was 0.2 percent.
Among those with the condition, 58 percent were diagnosed when
they were admitted to hospital, which suggests it may have been
caused by combat-related factors. Complications from
hospitalization were the likely cause of acute kidney injury among
the 18 percent of patients who developed the condition after the
first week in the burn unit. A combination of factors likely caused
it in the remaining patients with the condition, the researchers
said.
The study appears online Dec. 8 in the
Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
"Our research shows that if a wounded warrior develops kidney damage, he or she is at an increased risk of dying," Captain Ian Stewart, U.S. Air Force physician at the San Antonio Military Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, said in a journal news release.
"By preventing or modifying kidney injury, we may be able to improve survival in military personnel with burns and/or other traumatic injury," he added.
Further research is needed to determine whether intervening to
reduce acute kidney injury will save lives, Stewart said.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases has more about the
kidneys and kidney problems.