Outcome and severity of disease in kidney transplant recipients in different peaks of COVID-19 epidemic

Abstract

Management of kidney transplants at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging. In this study, we aimed to review the outcome of kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) encountered COVID-19. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 163 KTRs who referred to our academic transplantation center during the first and second peaks of COVID-19 were included. The prevalence of COVID-19 and primary outcomes including, lung involvement, a need for admission at an intensive care unit (ICU), a need for intubation, length of hospitalization in ICU and total hospitalization length, a need for hemofiltration, and mortality rate were assessed among KTRs. Results: Among 163 studied population 57.9% had respiratory involvement, whom 17.7% were in severe condition and 6.7% needed to intubation. COVID-19-related mortality was 7.9%. The type of immunosuppression therapy had no significant effect on infection rate and outcomes of KTRs patients with COVID-19 (p > 0.05). COVID-19-specific IgG and IgM levels had no significant correlation with the type of immunosuppressive therapy, transplant duration, and causes of end-stage renal disease (p > 0.05). The rates of hospitalization were significantly high among KTRs with diabetes (p = 0.007) and patients with respiratory tract involvement including upper respiratory symptoms: (p = 0.025), lung (p = 0.027), and gastrointestinal symptoms (p = 0.044).