Kidney transplant recipients did not have worsened outcomes after receiving an organ from a COVID-19 positive donor, a study published May 30 in JAMA has found.
Researchers studied outcomes from 45,912 patients who received kidneys from 35,851 deceased coronavirus-positive donors between March 1, 2020, and March 30, 2023.
"The use of kidneys from donors with active or resolved COVID-19 is safe, with excellent outcomes during medium-term follow-up," they wrote of their findings.
Notably, there was no increase in the rejection rate or transplanted organs either. With an average wait time for a kidney being between three and five years in the U.S., the study highlights that donors should not be excluded due to past or present COVID-19 infection and doing so would "substantially limit opportunities for organ use and [kidney transplant], which is not a benign consequence," researchers wrote.