Awareness and Impact of Non Pharmaceutical Interventions during COVID-19 Pandemic in Renal Transplant Recipients

Abstract The concerns generated by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are having profound impact on Solid Organ Transplantation (SOT). The Non Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPI) are currently the only measures available to contain COVID-19 in the general population and in more vulnerable recipients of any organ transplant. In this cross-sectional case control study from a patient survey, undertaken in two Transplant Centers (TxC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Italy, we aimed to appraise the awareness of the NPI implemented by respective Governments. We have also evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on our Kidney Transplant (KT) Recipients and a control group of Kidney Living Donors (KLD). in the survey demonstrated excellent awareness of the NPI. In our series there were zero cases of COVID-19 among 111 KT recipients and 70 KLD of the control group. Demography, transplant type, immunosuppression regimes and, as importantly, the different COVID-19 prevalence in the two regions of the TxC, did not appear to influence incidence of COVID-19 in our KT recipients. The absence of COVID-19 cases in our series was unexpected. Our findings suggest that awareness of NPI is associated with a successful containment of COVID-19 in vulnerable, immunosuppressed KT recipients.