Kidney Week

Abstract: FR-OR003

Relationship Between Environmental Temperature and Hospital Admissions for AKI from a US Electronic Health Records Database

Session Information

• AKI Everywhere All at Once: Risks, Trajectories, and Practice Patterns
  November 07, 2025 | Location: Room 320A, Convention Center
  Abstract Time: 04:50 PM - 05:00 PM

Category: Acute Kidney Injury

• 101 AKI: Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Prevention

Authors

• Stump, Sarah Dixon, Cardiovascular and General Medicine, PPD part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Morrisville, North Carolina, United States

Sarah Dixon Stump, MS

• Bevan, Andrew M., Integrated Project Solutions, PPD part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Andrew M. Bevan, MS, MSc

• Garrisi, Davide, Cardiovascular and General Medicine, PPD part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Milan, Italy

Davide Garrisi, PharmD

• Angeles, Carmichael, Medical and Scientific Services, Pharmacovigilance, PPD part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Morrisville, North Carolina, United States

Carmichael Angeles, MD, MBA, FASN

Background

The adverse health effects of exposure to high ambient temperature are well-established; however, there is limited research on its impact on hospital admissions for acute kidney injury (AKI). This study aimed to examine the relationship by analyzing hospital admissions for AKI in Texas, a state known high summer temperatures rate of heat-related deaths.

Methods

We compared hospital admissions for AKI and all hospital admissions using electronic heath records (EHR) data from TriNetX Texas Healthcare Organization (HCO) Network, that includes EHRs of >14 million individuals, with temperature data from the US National Centers for Environmental Information. We chose 2 specific time periods: March-August 2011 and March-August 2023, as Texas experienced the warmest average summer temperatures on record in these years. Search criteria utilized a CPT code for hospital inpatient and observational care services and an ICD10 code for AKI occurring in the same month. It excluded patients with ICD-10 codes for COVID-19 and long-term current therapy to avoid COVID-related AKI cases and opiate- or other drug-related AKI. Data from both years was pooled. A quadratic regression model was used to test if enviornmental temperature and cooling degree days (CDD), the cumulative sum of daily degrees above a mean temperature of 65°F, significantly predicted AKI admissions.

Results

Results demonstrated strong positive correlations between temperature and absolute AKI admissions (R² = 0.94, F [2, 3] = 23.6, p <.05) and AKI admissions as a percentage of all admissions (%AKI) (R² = 0.98, F [2, 3] = 65.1, p <.01). There were also strong positive correlations between CDD and absolute AKI admissions (R² = 0.91, F [2, 3] = 14.6, p <.05) and CDD and %AKI admissions (R² = 0.97, F(2, 3) = 55.2, p <.01). Conversely, all hospital admissions showed a negative correlation (R² = -0.82, F [2, 3] = 6.9, p >.05).

Conclusion

This study demonstrates a significant association between increases in ambient temperature and AKI-related hospital admissions and establishes a novel methodology for rapidly determining the impact of heat exposure on kidney-related hospital admissions. This approach could be investigated for expansion beyond the US as a means of measuring and/or predicting the impact of heat waves on AKI admissions globally.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• doi: 10.1681/ASN.20253k3b21w5