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New Delhi, September 5 (IANS): While Covid-19 is associated with higher mortality in patients with co-morbidities, it is rare in liver transplant recipients, according to a study conducted by Max Super Specialty Hospital, Saket.
Typically, Covid-19 is associated with higher mortality in patients with co-morbidities or pre-existing medical conditions such as obesity, diabetes, coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Initial studies also suggested that patients taking immunosuppressive drugs, such as liver transplant recipients, are at increased risk of severe Covid-19 and death.
But the results showed that “uncomplicated liver transplant recipients without comorbidities who acquire SARS-CoV-2 do not have poor outcomes.”
The study was carried out on 2,182 adult Indian patients who had undergone liver transplantation at the hospital’s Center for Liver and Biliary Sciences since 2006 and were regularly monitored. Data has been recorded regarding the symptoms and diagnosis of Covid-19, the need for hospitalization, the need for intensive care and mortality.
Up to 81 of 2,182 adult liver transplant (LT) recipients reported SARS-CoV-2 infection between April 1 of last year and May 31, 2021. Thirty-five patients had one or more co-morbidities .
Twenty-one patients had a transplant less than a year ago. Forty-four (54.3%) patients had only mild disease, while 23 (28.4%) patients had severe Covid-19 disease. Of the 81, 14 patients died and the overall mortality was 17.3 percent.
However, the true seroprevalence in the general population is likely to be much higher due to subtesting and a large proportion of asymptomatic cases.
Deaths were more common in patients with co-morbidities and advanced age. The presence of diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease has been strongly associated with poor outcomes in people with SARS-CoV-2. Thus, rather than post-liver transplant status, it is the presence of comorbidities or other risk factors such as advanced age that may have been responsible for the mortality, the study showed.
“In our study, all of the patients except one who died had received a liver transplant more than a year ago. After 1 year of transplantation, the dose of the immunosuppressive drug is usually significantly reduced and therefore the cytokine storm may not In the population study, the mortality linked to Covid-19 was 17.3%, which is comparable to the mortality of 18.2% observed in older patients with comorbidities ”, Dr Subhash Gupta, president of the Center for Liver and Biliary Sciences at Max.
“Our study suggests that uncomplicated liver transplant recipients who acquire SARSCoV-2 do not necessarily have a higher mortality than similar untransplanted populations. However, more studies are needed with larger patient populations. and matched control groups to come to a firm conclusion, “he added.
The study also recognized limitations such that the study did not compare mortality in liver transplant recipients with immunocompetent matched Covid-19 patients.
In addition, they were also unable to study the impact of individual comorbidities on mortality due to the limited number of patients.
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