COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) is caused by a new strain of coronavirus not previously identified in humans. In response to the pandemic, the Canadian Organ Replacement Register (CORR) has created additional codes for capturing COVID-19 as the cause of renal failure (diagnosis) and cause of death. This bulletin describes the process for reporting these new codes to ensure that these events are consistently and completely reported to CORR.
Use these codes only when COVID-19 has been confirmed by laboratory results and is clinically relevant. Do not assign them when COVID-19 is only suspected.
2 codes have been introduced to capture renal failure and patient death caused by COVID-19:
- Primary Renal Disease — 44 Infection (Coronavirus)
- Cause of Death — 01 Infection (Coronavirus)
How to capture primary diagnosis and death caused by COVID-19 for renal patients on chronic dialysis
- For a new dialysis patient who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 as the primary cause of renal failure,
- In Section E — Primary Diagnosis and Risk Factor History on the Initial Registration form, Primary Renal Disease field, select code 44 — Infection (Coronavirus).
- For a registered dialysis patient who has been assigned COVID-19 as the primary cause of death,
- In Section C — Cause of death on the Change of Status form, Cause of Death field, select code 01 — Infection (Coronavirus).
Questions?
If you have questions about this bulletin or would like additional information, contact the CORR team at corr@cihi.ca.
Additional CIHI resources are available on our COVID-19 resources web page.