COVID-19 long-haulers are more likely to lose function in their kidneys due to damage or disease in the area, according to a study published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

This also includes long-haulers with mild cases of the virus.

The researchers, based at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, concluded that survivors of the coronavirus have a higher risk of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) and that survivors have an "increased risk of kidney outcomes in the post-acute phase of the disease."

Dysfunction and disease within the kidneys tend to be free of pain, according to the peer-reviewed study. 

“Our findings emphasize the critical importance of paying attention to kidney function and disease in caring for patients who have had COVID-19,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, senior author of the research and assistant professor of medicine at Washington University.

A WOMAN RECEIVES her third anti-COVID vaccination at a Clalit Health Fund center in Jerusalem. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
A WOMAN RECEIVES her third anti-COVID vaccination at a Clalit Health Fund center in Jerusalem. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Al-Aly further stated that "we believe that 510,000 of those people who have had COVID-19 may have kidney injury or disease," of the 38 million people that tested positive with the virus since the start of the pandemic. 

The study stated that the majority of people used as test subjects for the study were mostly men in their 60s or older and also noted that those hospitalized with the virus are at the highest risk of permanently damaging their kidneys.

Last July, a report came out stating that Israel and the UAE swapped kidneys in a unique and life-saving operation, with the kidney from Israel being delivered to Abu Dhabi via a private plane, which immediately returned with a kidney to help a patient in Israel.