COVID-19 and kidney transplantation in a Colombian population

ABSTRACT

Background: Patients with kidney transplants seem to be at particularly high risk for severe COVID19 disease due to their impaired immune responses and comorbidities Methods: We performed an observational study of kidney transplant recipients with SARS-CoV2 infection admitted at Fundación Valle del Lili from June to December 2020. To be eligible for this study, patients have symptoms compatible, a positive RT-PCR and inpatient management. Asymptomatic patients were excluded Results: We enrolled a total of 50 patients. 64% were male, and the median age was 53.5 years (range 46-60). The comorbidities were 36(70%) hypertension, 16(32%) diabetes mellitus, 5(10%) obesity. The most common immunosuppressive regimen was tacrolimus 76% and prednisone 88%.The median time from symptoms onset to the positive RT-PCR was 7 days. The most common initial symptom was fever (64%), and fatigue (58%), cough (44%) and dyspnea (36%). Baseline levels of CRP was 6.43 mg/dL (3.25-11.22). The median lymphocyte count was 785 mm3/uL (550-1230). Baseline D-Dimer was 0.767 ug/ml (0.484-1153.5), ferritin median level was 1011ng/ml (670-2145). Clinical outcomes are shown in Table. Six of the patients died (12%), 4/6 were by sepsis-related multi-organ failure and 2/6 were by ARDS Conclusions: Major complications such as acute kidney injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome and mortality related to COVID-19 infection observed in our study are lower than those reported in other countries.