The Impact of COVID-19 on Solid Organ Donation: The North Italy Transplant Program Experience

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has unfavorably influenced solid organ donation activity.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of COVID-19 on transplantation in the North Italy Transplant program (NITp).

This cross-sectional study included all consecutive potential deceased donors proposed in the NITp in 6 weeks after February 21, 2020 (period A) compared to all potential donors during the same time frame of the previous years (period B) and all potential donors 6 weeks before February 20, 2020 (period C).

Fifty-eight deceased donors were proposed during period A, 95 were proposed during period B, and 128 were proposed during period C. After the evaluation process, 32 of 58 (55.2%), 60 of 95 (63.2%), and 79 of 128 (61.7%) donors were used for organ donation in periods A, B, and C, respectively (P value = .595). We observed a 47% donation reduction in period A compared to period B and a 60% reduction compared to period C. There was a reduction of 44% and 59% in transplantation comparing period A with period B and period C, respectively.

This study showed an important reduction of donations and transplants during the COVID-19 pandemic.