Outcomes of COVID-19-Positive Donor Heart Transplantation in the United States

Background Little is known regarding the impact of donor COVID-19 status on recipient outcomes after heart transplantation. In this study, we characterize outcomes of the first 110 heart transplants from organ donors positive for COVID-19 (COVID-19+) in the United States. Methods and Results Retrosp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Heart Association 2023-07, Vol.12 (14), p.e029178-e029178
Main Authors: Kim, Samuel T, Iyengar, Amit, Helmers, Mark R, Weingarten, Noah, Rekhtman, David, Song, Cindy, Shin, Max, Cevasco, Marisa, Atluri, Pavan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
coronavirus disease 2019
COVID-19
donor qualities
Female
Graft Survival
heart failure
Heart Transplantation
Humans
Original Research
outcomes research
Retrospective Studies
survival
Tissue and Organ Procurement
Tissue Donors
Transplantation, Homologous
United States - epidemiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background Little is known regarding the impact of donor COVID-19 status on recipient outcomes after heart transplantation. In this study, we characterize outcomes of the first 110 heart transplants from organ donors positive for COVID-19 (COVID-19+) in the United States. Methods and Results Retrospective analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing database was performed for single-organ adult heart transplants from January 2020 to March 2022. Donor COVID-19+ status was defined as a positive nucleic acid amplification, antigen, or other COVID-19 test within 7 days of transplant. Nearest-neighbor propensity score matching used to adjust for differences between recipients of COVID-19+ and nonpositive donor hearts. Overall, 7251 heart transplants were included in analysis, with 110 using COVID-19+ donor hearts. Recipients of COVID-19+ allografts were younger (54 [interquartile range, 41-61]) versus 57 [46-64] years; =0.02) but had similar rates of female sex and non-White race compared with those receiving allografts from negative donors. Nearest-neighbor propensity score matching resulted in 100 well-matched pairs of recipients of COVID-19+ versus nonpositive donor organs. The 2 matched groups had similar median lengths of stay (15 [11-23] days versus 15 [13-23] days; =0.40), rates of graft failure (1% versus 0%; =0.99), 30-day death (3% versus 3%; =0.99), and 3-month survival (88% versus 94%; =0.23) compared with recipients of nonpositive donors. No deaths occurred due to COVID-19 infection among the 8 (7%) total deceased recipients of COVID-19+ allografts to date. Conclusions Short-term outcomes of heart transplant recipients receiving COVID-19+ donor organs are reassuring. However, continued monitoring for long-term survival and potential complications are warranted.
ISSN:2047-9980
2047-9980
DOI:10.1161/JAHA.122.029178