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. 2022 Jul 1;106(7):1450-1454.
doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000004158. Epub 2022 Apr 11.

Solid Organ Donation and Transplantation Activity in the Eurotransplant Area During the First Year of COVID-19

Gabriel Putzer  1 , Lukas Gasteiger  1 , Simon Mathis  1 , Arjan van Enckevort  2 , Tobias Hell  3 , Thomas Resch  4 , Stefan Schneeberger  4 , Judith Martini  1
Affiliations

Solid Organ Donation and Transplantation Activity in the Eurotransplant Area During the First Year of COVID-19

Gabriel Putzer et al. Transplantation. .

Abstract

Background: Transplantation activity during the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was severely affected worldwide. This retrospective analysis aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on organ donations and transplantations in the Eurotransplant region during the first 12 mo of the pandemic. Specifically, we compared donor and transplantation numbers during both waves to determine whether transplant systems adapted to this new reality.

Methods: All reported organ donations and transplantations from March 1, 2015, to February 28, 2021, were collected from the Eurotransplant International Foundation registry. The observation period from 2020 to 2021 was divided into three 4-mo periods, which were then compared with the corresponding periods of the preceding 5 y. COVID-19 cases for Eurotransplant countries were retrieved from the OurWorldInData.org database.

Results: Overall, the number of organ donors decreased by 18.3% (P < 0.0001) and the number of organ transplantations by 12.5% (P > 0.0001) compared with previous years. Pancreas transplantation was the most affected, followed by kidney, liver, heart, and lung transplant. In detail, during period 1, the number of organ donors decreased by 26.2% (P < 0.0001) and the number of organ transplantations by 16.5% (P < 0.0001), in period 2 by 5.5% (P < 0.0091) and 4.9% (P < 0.0001), and in period 3 by 23.1% (P < 0.0001) and 16.4% (P < 0.0001), respectively.

Conclusions: Organ donation and transplantation decreased drastically also during the second wave; however, despite the severity of the second wave, the decline was comparable with that of the first wave.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no funding or conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
The light gray and dark gray lines (solid for the period 2020–2021 and dashed for the period 2015–2019 averages) represent organs reported and organs transplanted, respectively. The solid black line represents the 14-d moving average of daily new COVID-19 cases in the Eurotransplant region. COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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