Higher risk of acute kidney injury and death with rhabdomyolysis in severely burned patients

Background: Rhabdomyolysis is a severe condition responsible for up to 10% of acute kidney injury (AKI) cases. Severely burned patients are susceptible to developing both rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney injury, but whether burned patients with rhabdomyolysis are at greater risk of acute kidney injury compared to non-burned patients with rhabdomyolysis is unclear. Methods: TriNetX, a clinical research platform, was used to obtain electronic medical record information in 3 patient cohorts over the recent 20-year period. Cohort 1 included burn patients who developed rhabdomyolysis, cohort 2 were those who developed rhabdomyolysis due to non-burn causes, and cohort 3 included burn patients who did not develop rhabdomyolysis. Matching was performed to balance demographics and comorbidities for each cohort. Cohorts were then compared for the development of acute kidney injury and death. Results: We found 84 of 111 patients in cohort 1 (75.676%), 56 of 111 patients in cohort 2 (50.45%), and 18 of 111 patients in cohort 3 (16.216%) developed acute kidney injury within 5 days. The odds ratio for developing acute kidney injury for burned patients compared to non-burned patients with rhabdomyolysis was 3.056 with a 95% confidence interval of 1.726 to 5.41 (P <.05), and between burned patients with and without rhabdomyolysis was 16.074 with a 95% confidence interval of 8.263 to 31.268 (P <.05). The incidence of death within 1 year was also significantly higher in cohort 1 (48%) than the other cohorts (9% and 14%, respectively) (P <.05). Conclusion: The risk of acute kidney injury and mortality in severely burned patients with rhabdomyolysis is significantly increased compared to matched non-burn patients with rhabdomyolysis or burned patients without rhabdomyolysis.