Patients with a functioning kidney transplant who survived COVID-19 often showed a good recovery 3 months after diagnosis. Outcomes were only less favorable for patients who had to be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in the acute phase of COVID-19.
Although previous studies have looked at short-term survival after COVID-19, little was known about longer-term outcomes in kidney transplant patients. Researchers from the European Renal Association COVID-19 Database (ERACODA) therefore examined, in addition to clinical outcomes, the functional and mental status of these patients 3 months after the COVID-19 diagnosis.
Data on 912 kidney transplant patients (mean 56.7 years) who contracted COVID-19 between February 2020 and January 2021 from different, mainly European, countries were analysed. Of these, 26.4% were not hospitalized, 57.5% were admitted but not on ICU and 16.1% required ICU admission. After 3 months, 98.8%, 84.2% and 49.0% of the patients were still alive in these groups, respectively. Graft failure occurred in 1.8% of all patients, but among those with an IC admission this was 10.6%. Acute rejection was very rare (0.8% overall and 2.1% with IC admission).
According to their treating nephrologist, 83.3% of those still alive had regained their pre-COVID-19 functional health status after 3 months. For mental health status this was even 94.4%. For patients for whom this was not (yet) the case, their doctor expected that recovery would occur within the next year for 79.6% (functional) and 80.0% (mental) of the patients. IC uptake was associated with a lower chance of recovery.
Bron:
Duivenvoorden R, Vart P, Noordzij M, et al. Clinical, Functional, and Mental Health Outcomes in Kidney Transplant Recipients 3 Mo After a Diagnosis of COVID-19. Transplantation 2022;106:1012-23.