COVID-19 SCIENCE UPDATES

New kidney problems linked to 'long COVID'; Vaccines induce antibodies despite cancer, immunocompromise

The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that have yet to be certified by peer review.

'Long COVID' tied to higher kidney risks

COVID-19 symptoms that persist long after infection, known as "long COVID", has been tied to a higher risk for new kidney problems, according to a new study.

Analyzing data on more than 1.7 million US veterans, including nearly 90,000 COVID-19 survivors with symptoms lasting at least 30 days, researchers found the "long haulers" were at higher risk for new kidney problems compared to people who had not been infected with the coronavirus.

This was true even when survivors had not been hospitalized, although declines in kidney function were "more profound" with more severe infection, they reported on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Roughly 5% of the Long COVID group developed at least a 30% drop in a critical measure of kidney function known as the estimated glomerular filtration rate, or eGFR.

Overall, people with long COVID were 25% more likely than uninfected people to develop a 30% decline in eGFR, with higher risks in survivors of more severe disease.

While kidney function often declines with age, the damage in these patients "was in excess" of what happens with normal aging, study coauthor Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, of Washington University in St. Louis, said in a statement.

"Our findings emphasize the critical importance of paying attention to kidney function and disease in caring for patients who have had COVID-19," he said.

Vaccines induce antibodies despite cancer, immunocompromise

The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines trigger protective immune responses in most cancer patients with solid tumors and in many people taking immunosuppressive medications, two small studies suggest.

In Israel, researchers found that six months after the second dose of the vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, 79% of 154 patients with solid tumors had developed antibodies, as had 84% of 135 similar people without cancer, a difference that was not deemed statistically significant.

Antibody levels were similar in the two groups, the researchers reported on Thursday in Cancer Discovery.

Separately, US researchers studied 133 adults taking immunosuppressive medications for chronic inflammatory diseases and 53 healthy volunteers.

At three weeks after the second shot of an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna Inc, nearly 90% of the immunosuppressed participants had developed antibodies, although many had lower responses compared to the control group, according to a report published on Tuesday in Annals of Internal Medicine. -- Reuters