VİVEK B. KUTE, HARİ SHANKAR MESHRAM, SANSHRİTİ CHAUHAN, HİMANSHU PATEL, SUBHO BANERJEE, SUDEEP DESAİ, VİJAY NAVADİYA, RUCHİR DAVE, SANDEEP DESHMUKH, VİNEET MİSHRA
Experimental and Clinical Transplantation - 2021;19(12):1263-1270
Objectives: Comparisons of COVID-19 incidence between kidney transplant recipients and patients who did not receive kidney transplant are underexplored in various geographic regions. Materials and Methods: This Indian, single-center, retrospective study analyzed COVID-19 data of patients hospitalized between May 12, 2020, and January 11, 2021. A propensity matching score was used to compare outcomes between the 2 groups. We also used multivariable Cox proportional hazard analyses to assess association of kidney transplantation with mortality. Results: Of the 1627 COVID-19 cases, 179 were kidney transplant recipients and 1448 were not kidney transplant patients (control group). Of the 436 reported in-hospital deaths, 20 (11.1%) were in the kidney transplant group and 416 (28.7%) were in the control group. Propensity matching identified 98 kidney transplant recipients and 167 control patients. In Kaplan- Meier survival plots for these patients, there was no statistical difference in mortality (log-rank, Mantel Cox test; P = .07) or severity (log-rank, Mantel Cox test; P = .07) with regard to COVID-19. In Cox analysis, age groups from 61 to 70 years (hazard ratio = 1.5; 95% CI, 1.0-2.2; P = .04), 71 to 80 years (hazard ratio = 1.64; 95% CI, 1.0-2.5; P = .02), and >80 years (hazard ratio = 1.91; 95% CI, 1.1-3.1; P = .01) were associated with statistically significant greater mortality. Having a kidney transplant (hazard ratio = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.3-0.7; P = 0.001) was not associated with mortality. Conclusions: In our analysis, age was the most important predictor of mortality. Kidney transplant status was not found to have an independent association with mortality and severity.
