A retrospective multi-center experience of renal transplants from India during COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to a sudden drop in renal transplant numbers across India in the initial months of 2020. Although the transplant numbers increased with easing of lockdown, the outcome of these transplants remains unknown. Methods This was a retrospective, observational, multi-center study done across 8 different transplant centers in India. All the transplants done from 30/01/2020 till 31/12/2020 were included. The primary outcomes studied were patient and death censored graft survival as well as incidence of COVID-19 infection and its outcomes. Results During the study period a total of 297 kidney transplants were done. After a median follow up of 265 days the patient and death censored graft survival was 95.3% and 97.6% respectively. Forty-one patients (13.8%) developed COVID-19 post-transplant. Majority (58.5%) were asymptomatic to mildly symptomatic and the case fatality ratio was 14.6%. On multivariable logistic regression analysis older age was associated with higher likelihood of COVID-19 infection (odds ratio 1.038; CI 1.002 to 1.077). Conclusions Patient and graft outcome of kidney transplants done during the COVID-19 pandemic in India was acceptable. The incidence of COVID-19 was 13.8% with a high case fatality ratio. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.