COVID-19 clinical phenotypes in vaccinated and nonvaccinated solid organ transplant recipients: a multicenter validation study

Abstract

Clinical phenotypes of COVID-19, associated with mortality risk, have been identified in the general population. The present study assesses their applicability in solid organ transplant recipients (SOTR) hospital-admitted by COVID-19. In a cohort of 488 SOTR, nonvaccinated (n = 394) and vaccinated (n = 94) against SARS-CoV-2, we evaluated 16 demographic, clinical, analytical, and radiological variables to identify the clinical phenotypes A, B, and C. The median age was 61.0 (51-69) years, 330 (67.6%) and 158 (32.4%) were men and women, respectively, 415 (85%) had pneumonia, and 161 (33%) had SpO2 < 95% at admission. All-cause mortality occurred in 105 (21.5%) cases. It was higher in nonvaccinated versus vaccinated SOTR (23.4% vs 13.8%, P = 0.04). Patients in the entire cohort were classified into phenotypes A (n = 149, 30.5%), B (n = 187, 38.3%), and C (n = 152, 31.1%), with mortality rates of 8.7%, 16.6%, and 40.1%, respectively, which were similar to those of nonvaccinated SOTR (9.5%, 16.7%, and 52.0%) and lower in vaccinated SOTR (4.4%, 15.8%, and 17.3%, respectively), with difference between nonvaccinated and vaccinated in the phenotype C (P < 0.001). In conclusion, COVID-19 clinical phenotypes are useful in SOTR, and all-cause mortality decreases in vaccinated patients.