COVID-19 Reinfection Has Better Outcomes Than the First Infection in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients

Solid organ transplant recipients face an increased risk of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and are vulnerable to repeat severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. In nonimmunocompromised individuals, SARS-CoV-2 reinfections are milder likely because of cross-protective immunity. We sought to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 reinfection exhibits milder manifestations than primary infection in transplant recipients.

Using a large, prospective cohort of adult transplant patients with COVID-19, we identified patients with SARS-CoV-2 reinfections. We performed a 1:1 nearest neighbor propensity score matching to control potential confounders, including the COVID-19 variant. We compared outcomes including oxygen requirement, hospitalization, and intensive care unit admission within 30 d after diagnosis between patients with reinfection and those with the first episode of COVID-19.

Between 2020 and 2023, 103 reinfections were identified in a cohort of 1869 transplant recipients infected with SARS-CoV-2 (incidence of 2.7% per year). These included 50 kidney (48.5%), 27 lung (26.2%), 7 heart (6.8%), 6 liver (5.8%), and 13 multiorgan (12.6%) transplants. The median age was 54.5 y (interquartile range [IQR], 40.5-65.5) and the median time from transplant to first infection was 6.6 y (IQR, 2.8-11.2). The time between the primary COVID-19 and reinfection was 326 d (IQR, 226-434). Three doses or more of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine are received by 87.4% of patients. After propensity score matching, reinfections were associated with significantly lower hospitalization (5.8% versus 19.4%; risk ratio, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.12-0.71) and oxygen requirement (3.9% versus 13.6%; risk ratio, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.10-0.84). In a within-patient analysis only in the reinfection group, the second infection was milder than the first (3.9% required oxygen versus 19.4%, P  < 0.0001), and severe first COVID-19 was the only predictor of severe reinfection.

Transplant recipients with COVID-19 reinfection present better outcomes than those with the first infection, providing clinical evidence for the development of cross-protective immunity.