COVID-19 Infections and COVID-19 Vaccines Linked to Wide Range of Kidney Disorders
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jul 29, 2026 43 minutes ago
Medical News: The kidneys may be among the organs most vulnerable to both COVID-19 infection and, in rare cases, immune-related reactions following COVID-19 vaccination, according to a new review by researchers from the Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), Texas, USA, and the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kuala Lumpur Royal College of Medicine Perak (UniKL RCMP), Malaysia.
COVID-19-News-New review finds COVID-19 poses a far greater kidney risk than vaccination, while urging careful
monitoring of vulnerable patients
COVID-19 Infection Poses the Greatest Threat to Kidney Health
The researchers found that SARS-CoV-2 infection is far more likely than vaccination to damage the kidneys. Severe COVID-19 can trigger an overwhelming inflammatory response, often called a cytokine storm, that disrupts blood circulation, damages tiny blood vessels, and reduces oxygen delivery to kidney tissue. The virus can also interact with ACE2 receptors found on several kidney cell types, allowing injury to develop through multiple pathways.
More than one in four hospitalized COVID-19 patients develop acute kidney injury (AKI), while some studies cited in the review reported rates approaching 46% among hospitalized cases. Patients who develop AKI also face dramatically higher death rates than those without kidney complications. The review further highlights that individuals carrying high-risk APOL1 gene variants, particularly people of African ancestry, may have an even greater risk of severe kidney damage following COVID-19 infection.
Vaccine-Related Kidney Problems Are Rare but Diverse
The review also examined reports of kidney disorders appearing after COVID-19 vaccination. Although these events are uncommon and do not appear to result from direct viral damage, temporary immune activation may trigger or reveal underlying kidney disease in susceptible individuals.
Reported conditions include minimal change disease, IgA nephropathy, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), membranous nephropathy, ANCA-associated vasculitis, acute interstitial nephritis, lupus nephritis, thrombotic microangiopathy, and anti-glomerular basement membrane disease. About 69% of reported cases represented newly diagnosed kidney disease, while 31% involved relapses of existing conditions.
Researchers also noted that reported cases were more frequently associated with mRNA vaccines, although they caution this likely reflects their much wider global use rather than proving a higher biological risk.
Why Doctors Should Stay Alert
In this
Medical News report, the review emphasizes that diagnosing vaccine-associated kidney injury can be challenging because symptoms often resemble dehydration, medication side effects, or common infections. Doctors are encouraged to carefully evaluate patients who develop blood in the urine, swelling, excessive protein loss in urine, or declining kidney function shortly after infection or vaccination.
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Kidney biopsy remains the gold standard for identifying the exact type of kidney disease, although biopsy alone cannot prove that vaccination caused the condition. Encouragingly, approximately 80% of patients with vaccine-associated glomerulonephritis respond well to appropriate treatment, particularly corticosteroid therapy.
The authors also suggest that inexpensive urine screening programs could help detect early kidney injury before symptoms become obvious, especially in high-risk individuals.
Infection Carries About Ten Times Higher AKI Risk
One of the most striking conclusions from the review is that after adjusting for other risk factors, SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with approximately a tenfold higher risk of acute kidney injury than COVID-19 vaccination. This distinction is important because it places the relatively rare vaccine-associated kidney disorders within the broader context of the much greater kidney risks posed by COVID-19 itself.
Conclusion
The review concludes that kidney complications linked to both COVID-19 infection and vaccination deserve continued scientific attention, particularly among transplant recipients, immunosuppressed patients, and individuals with preexisting kidney disease. The authors stress that careful monitoring, long-term safety studies, and improved surveillance systems are needed to better distinguish temporary associations from true causation while helping physicians identify vulnerable patients who may benefit from closer follow-up after infection or vaccination.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed Journal of Molecular Pathology.
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5261/7/3/28
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Read Also:
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/coronavirus
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/long-covid
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