Unvaccinated patients were 5.54 times more likely to die in the hospital.
Patients vaccinated against COVID-19 who caught the virus -- and were hospitalized with reduced kidney function -- had better outcomes than unvaccinated patients with the same conditions, a new study has found.
Vaccinated patients were less likely to need dialysis after being discharged from the hospital and were more likely to survive, according to the study.
Lead author Dr. Niloofar Nobakht, a health sciences clinical associate professor of medicine in the division of nephrology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, said the findings suggest COVID-19 vaccination can reduce the risk of long-term kidney function decline and of death.
"The COVID-19 vaccine is an important intervention that can decrease the chances of developing complications from the COVID-19 infection in patients hospitalized with acute kidney injuries," Nobakht said in a news release.
"It is important for individuals to discuss the benefits of getting vaccinated for COVID-19 with their doctors as it can decrease the chances of needing dialysis, which can severely affect the quality of life of patients and lead to further complications, including death," she continued.
For the study, published early Friday in the journal Kidney Medicine, researchers looked at about 3,500 patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and March 30, 2022.
Of those patients, 972 developed acute kidney injury, which is a sudden reduction in kidney function, with 411 who were unvaccinated against COVID-19 and 467 who were vaccinated. Vaccinated patients received either at least two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Nearly 16% of unvaccinated patients needed a form of dialysis known as continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) -- a continuous, slow-motion dialysis that runs 24 hours a day -- compared with about 11% of vaccinated patients.
Results also showed unvaccinated patients were 2.56 times more likely to need CRRT after being discharged from the hospital and 5.54 times more likely to die in the hospital compared to vaccinated patients.
Additionally, those who were unvaccinated were 4.78 times more likely to die during long-term follow-up.
"This study also emphasizes the importance of the need for continued research in understanding how COVID-19 infections affect the kidney and how we should manage and monitor kidney complications from COVID-19 infections to improve patient outcomes," Nobakht said.
The authors said one of the limitations of the study was not enough data on the severity of COVID-19 illness, but the team did note all the patients were ill enough to have required hospitalization.
The new study comes as COVID-19 vaccines have received renewed attention due to recent moves from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Last month, Kennedy announced COVID-19 vaccines were being removed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's immunization schedule for "healthy children and pregnant women."
Additionally, earlier this week, Kennedy removed all 17 sitting members of the CDC's independent vaccine advisory committee and appointed eight replacement members, some of whom have shared vaccine-skeptic views.
The new members will be at an upcoming meeting of the committee, scheduled to be held between June 25 and June 27, to discuss new recommendations for several vaccines, including the HPV vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine.