Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan 1;105(1):90-99.
doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000003470.

A Report of 85 Cases of COVID-19 and Abdominal Transplantation From a Single Center: What Are the Associated Factors With Death Among Organ Transplantation Patients

Seyed Ali Malekhosseini  1 , Hamed Nikoupour  1 , Siavash Gholami  1 , Alireza Shamsaeefar  1 , Peyman Arasteh  1 , Kourosh Kazemi  1 , Masood Dehghani  1 , Hesameddin Eghlimi  1 , Hadi Raeisi Shahraki  2 , Jamshid Roozbeh  3 , Abbas Rezaianzadeh  1 , Saman Nikeghbalian  1
Affiliations

A Report of 85 Cases of COVID-19 and Abdominal Transplantation From a Single Center: What Are the Associated Factors With Death Among Organ Transplantation Patients

Seyed Ali Malekhosseini et al. Transplantation. .

Abstract

Background: In this study, we report the epidemiology of COVID-19 among recipients of organ transplantation and evaluate associated factors with death.

Methods: We screened 6969 patients who had organ transplantations in our center for COVID-19. Specific data on presentation, clinical course, treatment, and prognosis were acquired.

Results: We found 85 patients (66 liver, 16 kidney, 2 kidney-pancreas, and 1 liver-kidney recipient) who acquired COVID-19. Most common symptoms included fever (48.2%), cough (41.2%), myalgia (41.2%), and fatigue (40%). Dyspnea developed in 33% of patients. Overall, one-third of patients had an oxygen saturation of below 90% on admission. Patients were hospitalized for a median (interquartile range) of 9 (5, 13.7) days and had a 33.9% intensive care unit admission rate. Overall, 17 patients (20%) died, which included 31.3% of patients with kidney transplantations and 18.2% of patients with liver transplantations. All 4 pediatric patients in our series died. In our univariate analysis among adults, rates of leukopenia (38.4% versus 13.2%; P = 0.04), low albumin levels (53.8% versus 10.2%; P = 0.001), and shorter duration between transplantation and COVID-19 (P = 0.02), were higher among patients who died. In our least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression model, low albumin levels (OR, 4.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.16-17.27) were associated with higher risk of death.

Conclusions: This is the largest single-center report on abdominal transplantations and COVID-19. Liver and kidney transplant recipients have an increased risk of mortality compared with the general population due to COVID-19. More specifically, pediatric patients and those with low albumin levels are at higher risks of death due COVID-19.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no funding or conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Habibzadeh P, Stoneman EK. The novel coronavirus: a bird’s eye view. Int J Occup Environ Med. 2020;11:65–71.
    1. World Health Organization. WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11 March 2020. 2020. Available at https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-re... . Accessed July 20, 2020.
    1. World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) weekly epidemiological update and weekly operational update. 2020. Available at https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situatio... . Accessed July 20, 2020.
    1. Fishman JA. Infection in solid-organ transplant recipients. N Engl J Med. 2007;357:2601–2614.
    1. Avery RK, Fishman JA. Hricik D, ed. Infectious diseases in transplantation. In: Primer on Transplantation. 2011. 3rd ed. Wiley-Blackwell; 51–72.

LinkOut - more resources