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Multicenter Study
. 2021 Jan 1;105(1):177-186.
doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000003508.

COVID-19 in Lung Transplant Recipients

Jonathan Messika  1   2   3 , Philippine Eloy  4   5 , Antoine Roux  3   6   7 , Sandrine Hirschi  8 , Ana Nieves  9 , Jérôme Le Pavec  10   11   12 , Agathe Sénéchal  13 , Christel Saint Raymond  14 , Nicolas Carlier  15 , Xavier Demant  16 , Aurélie Le Borgne  17 , Adrien Tissot  18 , Marie-Pierre Debray  19 , Laurence Beaumont  6 , Benjamin Renaud-Picard  8 , Martine Reynaud-Gaubert  9 , Jean-François Mornex  13   20 , Loïc Falque  14 , Véronique Boussaud  15 , Jacques Jougon  16 , Sacha Mussot  10   11   12 , Hervé Mal  1   2 ; French Group of Lung Transplantation
Affiliations
Free article
Multicenter Study

COVID-19 in Lung Transplant Recipients

Jonathan Messika et al. Transplantation. .
Free article

Abstract

Background: A concern about the susceptibility of immunocompromised patients to the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been raised. We aimed at describing COVID-19 infections in the French cohort of lung transplant (LT) patients.

Methods: Multicenter nationwide cohort study of all LT recipients with COVID-19 diagnosed from March 1 to May 19, 2020. Recipient main characteristics and their management were retrieved. Hospitalization characteristics, occurrence of complications and survival were analyzed.

Results: Thirty-five LT patients with a COVID-19 infection were included. Median age was 50.4 (40.6-62.9) years, 16 (45.7%) were female, and 80% were double-LT recipients. Infection was community-acquired in 25 (71.4%). Thirty-one (88.6%) required hospitalization, including 13 (41.9%) in the intensive care unit. The main symptoms of COVID-19 were fever, cough, and diarrhea, present in 71.4%, 54.3%, and 31.4% of cases, respectively. Extension of pneumonia on chest CT was moderate to severe in 51.4% of cases. Among the 13 critically ill patients, 7 (53.9%) received invasive mechanical ventilation. Thrombotic events occurred in 4 patients. Overall survival rate was 85.7% after a median follow-up of 50 days (41.0-56.5). Four of 5 nonsurvivors had had bronchial complications or intensification of immunosuppression in the previous weeks. On univariate analysis, overweight was significantly associated with risk of death (odds ratio, 16.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-170.6; P = 0.02).

Conclusions: For the 35 LT recipients with COVID-19, the presentation was severe, requiring hospitalization in most cases, with a survival rate of 85.7%.

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References

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