Outcomes of critically ill patients with acute kidney injury and end-stage renal disease requiring renal replacement therapy: a case-control study

Sir, We agree with Rocha et al. that the outcomes of critically ill patients with acute renal failure are worse than those of critically ill subjects with established end-stage-renal-disease (ESRD) [1]. We also found that critically ill patients with acute renal failure had higher mortality than did critically ill patients with established ESRD (Figure 1). In addition, we documented that of the survivors in the acute renal failure group, 28% required dialysis at last follow-up, at an average time of 9 months after hospital discharge. Our mortality rates are higher than those of Rocha et al., probably because we considered only those on CRRT. Whereas Rocha et al. did not provide this information, we show that in survivors of acute renal failure, there is a considerable occurrence of long-term requirement for dialysis. This is yet a further burden of illness that emphasizes the adverse outcome of acute renal failure in critically ill patients.