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Study: Liver transplants from drug overdose donors increased in the pandemic’s first year

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Liver transplants from drug overdose donors rose significantly in the pandemic’s first year, helping keep the number of liver transplants in the U.S. stable despite COVID-19 disruptions, according to a study to be presented at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2022.

Using the U.S. organ donation registry, operated by the United Network for Organ Sharing, the research team examined characteristics of donors for all solid organ transplants, including livers, during two 14-month periods, both before the pandemic began and afterwards. They identified those transplants from drug overdose donors to determine the extent of changes during the pandemic. Read more from News Medical Life Sciences.

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Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and CKD Face Poor COVID Outcomes

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— Severity of kidney disease ups risk of ICU time, in-hospital mortality, and more

SAN DIEGO — Certain factors were highly predictive of severe COVID illness in hospitalized patients who had type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), a researcher reported.

In a single-center study of patients with T2D and CKD hospitalized with COVID-19 infection, having hyperglycemia upon admission was tied with more than a 10 times higher risk of severe COVID illness (OR 10.49, 95% CI 3.09-35.60), according to Ella Burguera-Couce, an MD candidate at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Read the complete article in MedPage Today.

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Care after kidney transplant

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The long-term success of a kidney transplant depends on many things. You should:

-Be seen by your transplant team on a regular basis and follow their advice

-Take your anti-rejection medications daily in the proper dose and at the right times, as directed by the transplant team, to keep your body from rejecting your new kidney.

-Follow the recommended schedule for lab tests and clinic visits to make sure that your kidney is working properly.

-Follow a healthy lifestyle including proper diet, exercise, and weight loss if needed
To read the full article and find more post-kidney transplant resources, visit the National Kidney Foundation’s page here.

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Evaluating immune protection after third and fourth doses of homologous and heterologous SARS-CoV-2 vaccines among kidney transplant recipients

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In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers evaluated the immune responses after the third (V3) and fourth (V4) doses of homologous and heterologous messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs).
Read more in News Medical Life Sciences.

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5 Sneaky Sources of Sugar

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Today, the average American consumes almost 152 pounds of sugar each year, which breaks down to almost 3 pounds (or 6 cups!) of sugar each week. That’s a lot of sugar – so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to that sugar may be a key factor contributing to our national obesity epidemic.

Obesity increases your risk of developing high blood pressure and diabetes, two of the leading causes of kidney disease. To protect your kidneys, it’s important to maintain a healthy weight and follow a healthy diet. This means paying attention to food nutrition labels and considering the impact sugar – in addition to fat, sodium and other ingredients — has on our diets. Read more from the National Kidney Foundation.

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The Kidney Transplant Waitlist – What You Need to Know

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Is transplant the best option for patients with kidney disease?

For the majority of patients, transplantation is the best option. Kidney transplant is not a cure for kidney disease, but it can help you live longer and with a better quality of life. Kidney transplants come from either living organ donors, or deceased organ donors. A live donor kidney transplant is considered the best option for people with kidney disease. Transplant is not an option for everyone. Speak with your healthcare team to decide if transplant is an option for you. Read more from the National Kidney Foundation.

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Kidney Transplantation From COVID-19 Positive Donors Is Safe

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Transplanting kidneys from COVID-19-positive deceased donors appears safe, according to early results from a case series presented at AUA 2022.

At an AUA press conference, Alvin Wee, MD, MBA, program director for kidney transplantation at Glickman Urologic and Kidney Institute at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, reported results from 55 patients (36 men and 19 women) who received kidneys from 34 COVID-19-positive deceased donors from February to October 2021. Of the 34 donors, 13 (38.2%) had died from COVID-19-related causes and 6 (17.6%) had received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Donor selection criteria evolved to the point that only COVID-19-positive donors without significant primary or secondary kidney injury were selected. The average Kidney Donor Profile Index was 36.9. Read more in Renal & Urology News.

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People with chronic lung diseases more likely to have delayed, avoided care during pandemic

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SAN FRANCISCO — During the COVID-19 pandemic, people with chronic lung diseases, including asthma and COPD, were more likely to delay or avoid medical care compared with the general population or those with other COVID-19 risk factors

At the American Thoracic Society International Conference, Jane C. Fazio, MD, pulmonary critical care fellow at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, presented results of a cross-sectional secondary analysis of National Health Interview Survey data from the third and fourth quarters of 2020. Read the full story in Healio.

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Treating Depression When You’re on Dialysis

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A recent study looked at how well two treatments for depression work for people on dialysis.

Depression is common in people who are on dialysis. Depression worsens your quality of life, makes you feel tired, and can affect your kidney health as well as your overall well-being.

There are many ways to treat depression, but not all ways work well for people who are on dialysis. Read the full story from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

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What a Gene and Its Risks Could Mean for Kidney Transplants

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Kidneys from Black donors are automatically downgraded in transplant assessments, but studying a gene variant could help change that.

Transplant specialists, when evaluating kidneys that come from donors, try to work out how likely it is that the kidney will fail after being transplanted into a recipient. Their risk calculations consider factors including the donor’s age, height, weight and history of diabetes. And, to the dismay of some researchers, it also includes the donor’s race.

Kidneys from deceased Black donors are automatically downgraded as higher risk.
Read the full story in The New York Times.

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