Early versus Delayed Strategies for Renal Replacement Therapy Initiation in Adult Patients with Severe Acute Kidney Injury Complicating Septic Shock: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent complication in hospitalized patients and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Renal replacement therapy (RRT) is used to manage AKI. The optimal timing of starting RRT in patients with AKI is still uncertain. This study is aimed to assess the effect of different timing strategies of RRT (early vs. standard) on mortality and dependence on dialysis in severe AKI complicating septic shock. A systematic review was conducted using the Ovid Medline database, trial registries, and manual searches of key journals from January 2000 to October 2020. Appropriate outcomes were pooled and analyzed via a meta-analysis. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included to compare between the early vs. delayed strategies of RRT. The inverse generic method was used, and the data were pooled using random effects. Five studies were included in this review, with 4329 participants. Overall, most domains were assessed as low-risk or with some concerns about the risk of bias. Compared with standard therapy, early initiation probably results in little or no difference regarding death, and may also result in no or little difference in independence on dialysis. The early strategy may result in a slight increase in adverse events. Compared with the standard strategy, earlier RRT initiation may slightly reduce the length of hospital stay. Further RCTs are needed to define the optimal timing of RRT initiation in this population.