Trends in organ donation and transplantation over the past eighteen years in Iran.

BACKGROUND: This article will review the trends in organ donation over the past 18 years in Iran. MATERIAL AND METHODS: All donation and transplantation statistics were extracted by reviewing the Organ Procurement and Transplantation database of the Ministry of Health of Iran from 2002 to 2019. RESULTS: Iran's national deceased donation rate from 2002 to 2019 increased 19.06-fold from .75 to 14.3 per million population (PMP). After the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of organ donation in Iran decreased significantly. Although 1 year after the onset of the pandemic, due to the widespread adoption of COVID19 vaccination, the rate of organ donation began to increase again, this system is still under performing. During the years under examination, the rate of deceased kidney donation increased significantly compared to living kidney donation and reached up to 2001 kidney transplantations in 2021. From 2002 to 2019, the rate of liver transplants increased to 12.8. Likewise, the rate of heart transplants increased 8.4-fold, from 15 to 126 cases during the same time. CONCLUSSION: Although a personal choice, the process of organ donation involves medical, legal, ethical, organizational, and social aspects. The trend in increasing donation rates over the past years can be attributed to multiple influences, which include rigorous team efforts in the organ donation and transplantation systems, in addition to creating a donation culture and promoting donation through media platforms. Moreover, we can say that the rising rates of deceased donor transplantation also can drive down rates of commercial living donor transplantation.

COVID-19 Infection in Kidney Transplant Recipients From a Single Center in Iran.

OBJECTIVES: COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly throughout the world, with nearly every country thus far documenting this infection. In this study, our aim was to evaluate the risk factors for increased mortality in deceased donor kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19 at a single center in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study in a single center. During the 17-month ongoing COVID19 pandemic in Iran, there were 153 deceased donor kidney recipients at our center with suspected COVID19 symptoms. Of these patients, 138 had positive COVID-19 tests, and thus a therapeutic regimen was commenced for these patients. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 16 software. RESULTS: The patients were predominantly male (83, 60.1%) with a median age of 47.09 ± 13.75 years and a median time since transplant of 51 months (IQR, 1-276 months). Among these patients, 84 (60.8%) had hypertension and 43 (31.2%) had diabetes mellitus. We observed a significant relationship between disease severity and mortality (P < .001). After risk adjustments for age, presence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension and blood group type were factors that showed a significantly higher risk of death. CONCLUSIONS: Deceased donor kidney transplant recipients with confirmed COVID-19 experienced less fever as an initial symptom. However, recipients with COVID-19 and an underlying disease had a higher rate of mortality, severity of infection, and progression of disease. Appropriate management of renal complications and vaccinations in deceased donor kidney transplant recipients may help lead to more favorable outcomes.

Using Social Marketing to Promote Preventive Behaviors Related to COVID-19.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus, a newly discovered coronavirus, the best strategy to deal with the infection is prevention aimed at reducing transmission in the community. This article aimed to using effective behavior change strategies are needed to control COVID-19. Social marketing facilitates the acceptance, rejection, modification, abandonment, or maintenance of particular behaviors by groups of individuals, often referred to as the target audience. The six-benchmark criteria for social marketing interventions include Behavior change, Customer research, Audience segmentation Marketing mix, Exchange, Competition. Social marketing can promote healthy behaviors. Perceived benefits of the preventive behaviors can be considered. Besides, media, advertising, and other methods to reach out to the consumers to inform and encourage them should be considered. For this purpose, a slogan and a logo should be designed and installed in all educational interventions and media such as posters, pamphlets, face-to-face training sessions, group discussion sessions, telephone counseling, and videos. Advertising using celebrities covering their faces with masks can persuade people to wear face mask. To promote health behaviors, professionals should pay attention to the segmentation of the target audience before providing any service. All plans should be piloted before implementation. Besides, information sources should be organized, and media that should be used to inform the target audience should be identified.