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. 2022 Mar 28:9:864865.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.864865. eCollection 2022.

SARS-CoV-2 in Kidney Transplant Patients: A Real-Life Experience

Biagio Pinchera  1 , Lorenzo Spirito  2 , Lucia Ferreri  3 , Roberto La Rocca  2 , Giuseppe Celentano  2 , Antonio Riccardo Buonomo  1 , Maria Foggia  1 , Riccardo Scotto  1 , Stefano Federico  3 , Ivan Gentile  1 , Rosa Carrano  3 ; “Federico II” COVID-19 Team
Collaborators, Affiliations

SARS-CoV-2 in Kidney Transplant Patients: A Real-Life Experience

Biagio Pinchera et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the management of solid organ transplant recipients and on clinical evolution in post-transplantation. Little is known on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection in these patients. The severity and lethality of this disease in solid organ transplant patients are higher thanin the general population. This study aims to describe clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection in solid organ transplant recipients followed in our center.

Methods: In this observational study, we enrolled all kidney transplant recipientsattending the A.O.U. Federico II of Naples from March 2020 to January 2021. For each patient we evaluated the epidemiological and clinical characteristics as well as outcome.

Results: We enrolled 369 kidney transplant patients (229, male, 62%). Of these, 51 (13.8%) acquired SARS-CoV-2 infection and 29 showed symptomatic disease. Of the 51 patients with the infection, 48 (94.11%) had at least one comorbidity and such comorbidities did not constitute a risk factor for a more severe disease. Hospitalization was necessary for 7 (13.7%) patients. Of these, 2 required low-flow oxygen supplementation, 3 non-invasive/high flow ventilation and 2 invasive ventilation. Finally, 2 patients died.

Conclusions: Our study shows a lower mortality and hospitalization rate compared to figures available in the literature (4% vs. 13-30% and 14% vs. 32-100%, respectively). Furthermore, the comorbidities examined (hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes) did not constitute a risk factor for a more severe disease condition in this patient category. Further studies with larger sample size are necessary to confirm these data.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; immunosuppression; kidney transplant; transplant.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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