Regional Citrate Anticoagulation and Infectious Complications in Critically Ill Children and Young Adults Receiving Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy

Abstract

Introduction: Recent studies have identified an association between regional citrate anticoagulation (RCA) and subsequent infectious complications during continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). We aimed to determine if RCA was associated with infectious complications in children and young adults receiving CRRT. Methods: A secondary analysis of the multinational Worldwide Exploration of Renal Replacement Outcomes Collaborative in Kidney Disease (WE-ROCK) registry (34 centers, 9 countries), was performed, including patients from 2015 to 2018. Patients were excluded if they (1) died within 72 h of CRRT initiation, had minor trauma or were postsurgical (analysis 1), or (2) met an exclusion in analysis 1 or had sepsis prior to CRRT initiation or chronic immunosuppression (analysis 2). Multivariable mixed-effects logistic (analysis 1) and mixed-effects Cox regression (analysis 2) were used to determine the associations between anticoagulant type and culture-positive infection after CRRT initiation. Results: A total of 874 patients were included in analysis 1 and 283 in analysis 2. Culture-positive infection occurred in 25% and 17% of each analysis. In analysis 1, culture-positive infection was higher in RCA (29%) vs. heparin (23%) and other (15%); p = 0.008. There was no association between RCA and infection in multivariable analysis. In analysis 2, there was no difference in the frequency of infection by anticoagulation type. A longer time to achieve the first negative fluid balance was associated with culture-positive infection. Conclusion: RCA was not associated with culture-positive infection after CRRT initiation in this study. The systemic effects of AKI and longer time to first negative fluid balance may be inciting factors for an infection and represent a potentially modifiable factor that warrants future studies in this high-risk population.