Poor Outcomes of COVID-19 in Lung Transplant Recipients. Cohort Study in a Single Center

PURPOSE: The world SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has affected global health, including the health of lung transplant recipients. There is very little data reported on the outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 on this gruop of patients METHODS: Retrospective cohort study approved of all LTx recipients with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 investigated with naso-pharyngeal swabs and reverse PCR for SARS-COV-2. Postive test for SARS-COV-2 Inserted to our cohort and investigated their files. We also conducted pooled analysis of published cases of covid 19 cases of lung transplant recipients RESULTS: We identified eleven cases of COVID-19 among a cohort of 348 LTx recipients. All but two patients were hospitalized. Seven patients required intensive care and six died (55% mortality). Non-survivors had lower baseline FEV1 than survivors and worse and/or deteriorating chest radiographic scores during admission. No effect of medical therapy including steroids and remdesivir could be determined. This mortality rate compared poorly general hospitalized COVID-19 patients at our institution (13%) and national mortality rate of 0.3% in the general population. Incidence of COVID-19 was similar to the general population (0.3%). In a pooled analysis of published cases, we determined mortality of 28% across different reports of lung transplant patients with COVID-19. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 disease is very severe in lung transplant recipients. In the absence of effective therapy and vaccination, transplant physicians should concentrate their efforts on prevention of disease and encourage meticulous preventative behavior by recipients under their care.