Do Lifestyle Changes of Renal Transplant Recipients During the Pandemic Reduce the Risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019?

Abstract

Introduction There is no published study regarding the effects of preventive measures on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) frequency in renal transplantation recipients. The aim of this study is to reveal the preventive measures taken by renal transplant recipients during the COVID-19 pandemic and whether these measures influence the prevalence of the disease. Materials and Methods After detecting the first COVID-19 case in Turkey, we briefed all of our renal transplant recipients on preventive measures regarding COVID-19. Two months afterward, a questionnaire was prepared regarding the preventive measures practiced by renal transplant recipients, and patients were asked whether they had any COVID-19 symptoms or had received a COVID-19 diagnosis. Results Among 132 patients, 68 were surveyed through telephone calls. During this time, 95.5% of patients were in isolation at home except for when seeing to their essential needs. Two (2.9%) patients were hospitalized due to increases in creatinine level and urinary tract infection. All patients have worn masks when going out and stated that they washed their hands more frequently. There was a decrease in the frequency of hospital controls in 79.4% of patients. Although 2 (2.9%) patients had complaints of dysuria and fever, they did not apply to the hospital because they thought hospitals carried risk during the pandemic. One patient had a cough with fever and was admitted to the hospital with suspicion of COVID-19 but tested negative. Discussion It was determined that renal transplant recipients in our study population meticulously complied with preventive measures and increased the use of masks and hand hygiene practices. As a result, none were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

Adherence to preventive measures after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and after awareness of antibody response in kidney transplant recipients in the Netherlands: a nationwide questionnaire study

“…This was established in a patient group that tightly adhered to government recommendations overall. This tight adherence has previously been described in KTRs which resulted in no self-reported SARS-CoV-2 infections, 28 and in other immunocompromised patients compared to the general population. 29 , 30 A point of discussion is the communication of antibody response and its related protection against COVID-19.…”

Incidence of COVID-19 and Identification of Possible Risk Factors Associated with COVID-19 in Acute Renal Transplant Recipients in Pakistan

“…Several published studies scored awareness about COVID-19 among the transplant population [ 3 , 9 ]. In our study, 47 out of 50 recipients were highly aware of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Around the world, this pandemic halted transplant programs due to fear of exposing transplanted, highly immunocompromised patients to this extremely contagious viral infection [ 2 ]. Solid organ transplant recipients are exclusively considered a very high-risk population [ 3 ] due to chronic immunosuppression, multiple comorbidities, and greater frailty that poses a significant risk of unfavorable outcomes, but renal transplant is considered the best modality of renal replacement therapy [ 4 ], with prolonged survival and improvement in quality of life [ 2 ].…”

COVID-19 Minisymposium: Toward a Strategic Roadmap

“…The low incidence and modest mortality rate among multi-organ recipients in The North Italy Program is described by Passamonti et al [ 12 ] and reviewed by Aziz et al [ 13 ]. Individual centers report their series of kidney (Lum et al [ 14 ]; Kocak et al [ 15 ]; Hasanoglu et al [ 16 ]; Aziz et al [ 17 ]), organ (Christensen et al [ 18 ]), or liver (Fraser et al [ 19 ]; Pahari et al [ 20 ]) transplantations. In addition, individual cases are presented following kidney (Adrogué et al [ 21 ]; Yamada et al [ 22 ]; Taha et al [ 23 ]), liver (Mathiasen et al [ 24 ]), lung (Renaud-Picard et al [ 25 ]), and heart (Vaidya et al [ 26 ]) transplantations.…”