1. COVID-19 infection in patients with history of pediatric heart transplant in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
- Author
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Ulrich S, Balmer C, Becker K, Bruhs J, Danne F, Debus V, Dewein L, Di-Bernardo S, Doll U, Fleck T, Tirilomis T, Glöckler M, Grafmann M, Greil S, Grosser U, Saur P, Skrzypek S, and Steinmetz M
- Subjects
- Adult, Humans, Male, Child, Adolescent, Austria epidemiology, Switzerland epidemiology, Retrospective Studies, Germany epidemiology, COVID-19 epidemiology, Heart Transplantation adverse effects
- Abstract
COVID-19 is a heterogenous infection-asymptomatic to fatal. While the course of pediatric COVID-19 infections is usually mild or even asymptomatic, individuals after adult heart transplantation are at high risk of a severe infection. We conducted a retrospective, multicenter survey of 16 pediatric heart transplant centers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to evaluate the risk of a severe COVID-19 infection after pediatric heart transplantation between 02/2020 and 06/2021. Twenty-six subjects (11 male) with a median age of 9.77 years at time of transplantation and a median of 4.65 years after transplantation suffered from COVID-19 infection. The median age at time of COVID-10 infection was 17.20 years. Fourteen subjects had an asymptomatic COVID-19 infection. The most frequent symptoms were myalgia/fatigue (n = 6), cough (n = 5), rhinitis (n = 5), and loss of taste (n = 5). Only one subject showed dyspnea. Eleven individuals needed therapy in an outpatient setting, four subjects were hospitalized. One person needed oxygen supply, none of the subjects needed non-invasive or invasive mechanical ventilation. No specific signs for graft dysfunction were found by non-invasive testing. In pediatric heart transplant subjects, COVID-19 infection was mostly asymptomatic or mild. There were no SARS-CoV-2 associated myocardial dysfunction in heart transplant individuals., (© 2024 The Authors. Clinical Transplantation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
- Published
- 2024
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