The Initial Impact of Covid-19 on Reported Graft Failure Rates and Potential Confounding of Srtr Psrs

A. Wey¹, J. Miller¹, D. Musgrove¹, Y. Ahn¹, M. Valapour², N. Salkowski¹, M. Skeans¹, A. Massie³, R. Hirose⁴, D. Segev³, A. Israni¹, J. Snyder¹, B. Kasiske¹

¹SRTR, Minneapolis, MN, ²Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, ³Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD, ⁴Univ of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

Meeting: 2021 American Transplant Congress

Abstract number: 202

Keywords: Adverse effects, Graft failure, Prediction models, Risk factors

Topic: Administrative » Quality Assurance Process Improvement & Regulatory Issues

Session Information

Session Name: Quality Assurance and Regulatory Issues

Session Type: Rapid Fire Oral Abstract

Date: Monday, June 7, 2021

Session Time: 4:30pm-5:30pm

Presentation Time: 4:35pm-4:40pm

Location: Virtual

*Purpose: COVID-19 could bias the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) program-specific reports (PSRs), especially if its impact varied geographically.

*Methods: Recipients who received transplants from January 1, 2000 to April 30, 2020 and had graft function on March 13, 2019 were included. To assess the risk of confounding, we estimated the overall and donation service area (DSA)-specific differences in graft failure rates from March 13, 2019 to March 12, 2020 compared with rates from March 13 to April 30, 2020, after adjusting for recipient and donor characteristics.

*Results: Kidney, liver, and heart recipients had higher adjusted graft failure rates after COVID-19 than before (Figure 1). Graft failure rates for kidney and liver recipients who received a transplant in the New York City DSA were significantly higher after COVID-19 than before (Figures 2 and 3, respectively). Lung and heart transplant recipients had significantly less variability across DSAs.

*Conclusions: Taken together, these results suggest potential confounding of SRTR PSRs, especially for kidney and liver transplant programs in the New York City DSA. Thus, SRTR is censoring transplant follow-up after March 12, 2020 for PSRs released in January 2021 to minimize potential bias. However, further studies are required to identity long-term solutions for minimizing potential confounding of SRTR PSRs by COVID-19.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Wey A, Miller J, Musgrove D, Ahn Y, Valapour M, Salkowski N, Skeans M, Massie A, Hirose R, Segev D, Israni A, Snyder J, Kasiske B. The Initial Impact of Covid-19 on Reported Graft Failure Rates and Potential Confounding of Srtr Psrs [abstract]. Am J Transplant. 2021; 21 (suppl 3). https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/the-initial-impact-of-covid-19-on-reported-graft-failure-rates-and-potential-confounding-of-srtr-psrs/. Accessed May 16, 2025.

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