Outcomes and Complications of Covid-19 in Pediatric Solid Organ Transplant Patients

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the clinical course, outcomes, and complications of COVID-19 in pediatric solid organ transplant patients from a single institution, with special attention to thrombotic complications, multiple inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), and new rejection. Method(s) The medical record at our institution was retrospectively queried for all solid organ transplant patients up to 21 years old diagnosed with COVID-19 from March 2020 to September 2021. This cohort was compared in a 11 fashion with age, sex, and ethnicity-matched controls with COVID-19 infection, but no history of transplant. Categorical variables were analyzed with Chi-square or Fisher's exact test, and continuous variables were analyzed with Mann-Whitney test. Result(s) 44 solid organ transplant patients met study inclusion criteria. Six patients were excluded from analysis due to insufficient documentation of COVID-19 diagnosis or course. The cohort was composed of 17 kidney, 11 heart, six liver, two lung, one liver-kidney, and one multivisceral transplant patients. Median age at COVID-19 diagnosis was 15 years (IQR 9). Median time from transplant to COVID-19 diagnosis was 2.5 years (IQR 3.4). Of the 38 patients, 17 were white non-Hispanic/Latino (44.7%), 12 were Hispanic/Latino (31.6%), three were Black (7.9%), two were Asian (5.3%), three were other (7.9%), and one was unknown (2.6%). 19 patients (50%) were male. 12 transplant patients were asymptomatic (31.6%), compared to five controls (13.2%, p=0.054). Of the symptomatic patients, the most common symptoms in the solid organ transplant group were fever (26.3%) and headache (18.4%), with few patients experiencing shortness of breath (5.3%). Hospital (15.8%) and ICU (5.3%) admission rates were equal in both groups, with a median length of stay of 4.5 days for the transplant group (IQR 5.25) versus 4 days (IQR 5.75) for controls (p=0.59). 32 patients in each group received supportive care as outpatients (84.2%). A minority of transplant patients received monoclonal antibody (6.3%), convalescent plasma (6.3%), steroids (6.3%), and remdesivir (3.1%). There was one case of MIS-C in the transplant group (2.6%) versus three in the control group (7.9%) (p=0.62). One transplant patient developed COVID-associated microangiopathy (2.6%), but there were no thrombotic complications among controls (p > 0.99). There were no new cases of cellular or antibody-mediated rejection following COVID-19. There was one death in the transplant cohort, but no deaths in the control group. Conclusion(s) We report the largest multi-organ cohort of pediatric solid organ transplant recipients with COVID-19 to date. Our findings suggest pediatric solid organ transplant patients fare similarly to healthy children, without elevated risk of complications.