Six-Month Outcomes Of Heart Transplant Recipients Infected By Covid-19

Purpose COVID-19 infection might be associated with higher mortality risk for transplanted patients, as a result of their multiple co-morbidities and their immunosuppressed status. We sought to describe the six-month outcomes of heart transplant (HT) recipients infected by COVID-19. Methods We retrospectively analyzed clinical and echocardiographic data from all HT recipients infected with COVID-19 between March and April 2020. All patients were followed for a minimum of 6 months or until death. Results Twenty-eight HT patients were studied, median age was 64 (range 59-69) and 22 were male. Co-morbidities included obesity (25%), diabetes (61%), HTN (71%), CKD (68 %) and chronic lung disease (36%). Eight patients died (29%) (non-survivors) and 20 survived (survivors) COVID-19 infection. All patients who survived the initial hospitalization period remained alive at 6 months (figure 1). There was no difference in the prevalence of co-morbidities between survivors and non-survivors. Survivors had lower peak ferritin (2185 ± 793 vs 18023 ± 16724, p= 0.04) and procalcitonin (0.8 ± 0.3 vs 104 ± 31, p Conclusion COVID-19 infection is associated with a high fatality rate (29%) among HT recipients, however, HT recipients that survive the acute COVID-19 infection have preserved allograft function and end-organ function has returned to baseline at 6 months follow-up.