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
. 2023 May;42(5):558-561.
doi: 10.1016/j.healun.2023.01.012. Epub 2023 Feb 1.

Severity of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection in heart transplant recipients

Fanny Hazan  1 , Constance Verdonk  2 , Guillaume Coutance  1 , Valentine Marie Ferré  3 , Stéphane Marot  4 , Vania Da Dilva Melo  2 , Camille Legeai  5 , Guillaume Lebreton  1 , Marylou Para  2 , Shaida Varnous  1 , Richard Dorent  6
Affiliations

Severity of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection in heart transplant recipients

Fanny Hazan et al. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2023 May.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant was first detected in France mid-November 2021 in wastewater treatment plants while cases started to increase at the beginning of December. The maximum incidence occurred in mid-January 2022. The Omicron wave spread rapidly throughout France in general population with lower case-fatality rate compared with previous waves. Little is known about infection with Omicron variant in heart transplant (HT) recipients. In this study, we examined incidence and mortality rate of COVID-19 in the general population and among 1,263 HT recipients during the period from June, 2021 to February, 2022, described characteristics of HT recipients infected with SARS-CoV-2 during Omicron (December 1st, 2021-February 7, 2022) and Delta (June 1st- November 30, 2021) periods, and compared hospital course of HT recipients with Omicron and Delta variant infection. Our findings contrast with the reported lower severity for Omicron variant infection compared with Delta variant infection in immunocompetent individuals.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant; antibody evasion; heart transplant recipients; mortality; vaccine-induced antibody response.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure statement The authors have no disclosure regarding the present study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fourteen-day average new COVID-19 infections in heart transplant recipients (A) and 14-day incidence and mortality rate in heart transplant cohort and general population (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ahmed F, Abid M, Maniya T, Usman MS, Fudim M. Incidence and prognosis of COVID-19 amongst heart transplant recipients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2022;29:e224–e226. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sofonea MT, Roquebert B, Foulongne V, et al. Analyzing and modeling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron lineages BA.1 and BA.2, France, September 2021-February 2022. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022;28:1355–1365. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Veneti L, Bøås H, Bråthen Kristoffersen A, et al. Reduced risk of hospitalization among reported COVID-19 cases infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 variant compared with the Delta variant, Norway, December 2021 to January 2022. Euro Surveill. 2022;27 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nyberg T, Ferguson NM, Nash SG, et al. Comparative analysis of the risks of hospitalisation and death associated with SARS-CoV-2 omicron (B.1.1.529) and delta (B.1.617.2) variants in England: a cohort study. Lancet. 2022;399:1303–1312. - PMC - PubMed
    1. UK Health Security Agency. COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report: week 9. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccine-weekly-surve... (accessed August 7, 2022).

Supplementary concepts