PR91289

MILAN, Aug. 31, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

The number of solid organ transplants performed during the first wave of

COVID-19 in 2020 plunged by 31% compared to the previous year, according to a

new global study presented at the European Society for Organ Transplantation

(ESOT) Congress 2021 [https://www.esotcongress.org].

According to modelling calculations, the slowdown in transplants resulted in

more than 48,000 years of patient life loss.

The research leveraged data from 22 countries and revealed major variations in

the response of transplant programmes to the COVID-19 pandemic, with transplant

activity dropping by more than 90% in some countries.

Kidney transplantation showed the largest reduction across nearly all countries

during 2020 compared to 2019, with the study finding a decrease in living donor

kidney (-40%) and liver (-33%) transplants. For deceased donor transplants,

there was a reduction in kidney (-12%), liver (-9%), lung (-17%) and heart

(-5%) transplants.

The research, published today in the Lancet Public Health, highlighted how some

countries managed to sustain the rate of transplant procedures whilst others

experienced serious reductions in the number of transplants compared to the

previous year and, in some areas, living donor kidney and liver transplantation

ceased completely. Overall, there was a strong temporal association between

increased COVID-19 infection rate and reductions in deceased and living solid

organ transplants.

Dr Olivier Aubert, lead author of the study, commented, "The first wave of

COVID-19 had a devastating impact on the number of transplants across many

countries, affecting patient waiting lists and regrettably leading to a

substantial loss of life."

Professor Alexandre Loupy, head of the Paris Translational Research Center for

Organ Transplantation and study author, furthered, "Living donor

transplantation, which reduced more substantially, requires significant

resources and planning compared to deceased donors. This is extremely difficult

during a pandemic and there are also major ethical concerns for the safety of

the donor."

"It's clear that there are many indirect deaths associated with COVID-19 and

our study confirms that the pandemic has far-reaching consequences on many

medical specialties."

The estimated numbers of life-years lost were 37,664 years for patients

waitlisted for a kidney, 7,370 for a liver, 1,799 years for a lung, and 1,406

for a heart, corresponding to a total 48,239 life-years lost.

Source: European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT)