The lungs are ground zero for COVID-19, but new research show the virus can also trigger kidney failure.

Doctors and researchers from across Northwell Health's New York hospitals saw an "alarming number" of hospitalized COVID-19 patients develop acute kidney injury.

Dr. Steven Fishbane, part of the team of investigators at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, says about one-third of hospitalized COVID-19 patients developed AKI.

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"(That) means that the kidneys which usually filter the blood have a temporary, at least, period where they can't do it well and in a significant number of patients, about 14% admitted to the hospital that need dialysis treatment to take over the job of the kidneys," says Fishbane.

According to the study, the fatality rate was high. OF the nearly 2,000 patients with kidney failure, 35% died. Researchers found the high rate of kidney failures is a sign of the seriousness of a patient's condition.

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Doctors say risk factors for developing AKI include advanced age, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. They say a patients can recover from kidney failure, depending on the severity of the respiratory failure.

"It really comes down to the COVID disease and whether it gets better or not," says Fishbane. "And if it gets better, we find the kidney failure tends to improve. And the kidneys are remarkable because they can go all the way back to normal, even if you needed dialysis."