Pediatric donation during COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a decrease in transplantation throughout the United States. We examined the impact of the pandemic in regards to the volume of pediatric donors from which livers were successfully transplanted and donor characteristics during this time. Methods: The UNOS database was examined between 3/1/2019-8/1/2019 (non-COVID era) and 3/1/2020-8/1/2020 (COVID era). The numbers of potential pediatric donors and those who donated livers were determined. Donor demographic data was obtained. STATA software was used to perform statistical analysis. A p-value of 2) used during COVID (24%) compared to non-COVID (20%). Conclusions: During the COVID period there was a large decrease in pediatric donor referral. It appears that this promoted utilization of livers with higher overall donor risk by liver transplant centers.