Prevalence and Hospitalization Burden of Cytomegalovirus Infection in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients in the United...

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is associated with substantial morbidity among solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs). However, data on the burden of CMV-associated hospitalization is limited.

We used data from Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and National Readmissions Database, which include hospitalization information for SOTR across the United States, collected between 2016 and 2022. We estimate prevalence of CMV infection among adult SOTR, using two reference populations: (a) all living SOTR, and (b) SOTR with at least one hospitalization. We also describe hospitalization burden among SOTR with versus without CMV infection.

Between 2016 and 2022, an estimated total of 950 420 hospitalized adult SOTR were identified. The average prevalence of hospitalized CMV infection was 144 per 10 000 living SOTR. The average prevalence of CMV infection among hospitalized SOTR was 385 per 10 000 hospitalized recipients. Both were the highest among lung recipients (583 and 993, respectively). Within a 30-day follow-up window, recipients with CMV infection had 48% higher hospital days (mean: 14.6 vs. 7.6 days) and 67% higher hospitalization cost (mean: $56 146.6 vs. $27 563.3) than those without CMV infection. These findings were consistently higher across all CMV disease types. There were no significant changes in hospital days or costs over time among recipients with CMV infection.

CMV infection was associated with a consistently high hospitalization burden among SOTR, across all transplant types and CMV disease throughout the study period. Optimizing CMV management strategies is essential to reducing the economic burden in this population.