Covid-19 in 40 dialysis facilities. A prospective multicenter cohort study in Spain

Aims: Assess the incidence of COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic in 40 hemodialysis units in Spain. Material and methods: We analyzed 396 Rt-PCR performed March 14th to April 28th, 2020 in a cohort of 2398 hemodialysis (HD) patients corresponding to 19 hospital units and 21 satellite centers. Results: We performed Rt-PCR in 14% of the patients, with a marked variability depending on the location. The overall COVID-19 incidence was 3.2% (range 0-15.9%). It was significantly higher in the hospital units (4.5%) than in the satellite units (1.9%) (p=0.0003). There was a positive and significant correlation between the COVID-19 incidence in the units and their proximity to Madrid (R2=0.6235, p=0.0013), which was the main epidemic focus. Conclusion: Our study showed a low incidence of COVID-19 in HD, higher in hospital units and closer to Madrid.