Abstract:
Acute kidney injury is a serious clinical problem with significant morbidity and mortality.
Several factors are recognized to aggravate the outcome including advanced age, gender,
oliguria and the serum creatinine level. What is currently unknown is whether the presence
of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) aggravates the outcome of patients who
develop acute kidney injury (AKI). Sub-Saharan Africa currently bears the brunt of the
global HIV pandemic. In South Africa alone more than 5.7 million people are infected
((UNAIDS 2008 report on the global AIDS epidemic, 2009), creating substantial additional
pressure on already inadequate social and healthcare infrastructures. Acute kidney injury
occurs commonly in HIV-infected patients admitted to hospital and carries with it
substantial mortality. In a resource-poor environment clinicians are often forced to select
patients with a better chance of survival for admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). A
rigorous evaluation of the outcomes of HIV-positive patients admitted to ICU with AKI may
assist in identifying factors associated with better survival, and thus aid in the cost-effective
management of these patients.
