On 23 March 2020, the same day that the UK Government announced lockdown restrictions, NHS Blood and Transplant altered the age acceptance criteria for deceased donors to protect intensive care unit bed capacity and maximise the use of available organs. The maximum age for donation after brain death was reduced from 85 years to 60 years (increased to age 75 years after 7 April 2020), and the maximum age for donation after circulatory death was reduced from 80 years to 50 years. These changes would, in ordinary times, be expected to reduce actual donor numbers by approximately 47 per cent.
However, a study by NHS Blood and Transplant, published in the Lancet, has found that, between 23 March 2020 and 10 May 2020, the number of deceased donors dropped by 66 per cent compared with the same period in 2019, and the number of deceased donor transplants dropped by 68 per cent, larger decreases than were estimated.
The number of referrals of potential donors decreased by 39 per cent, although families continued to support donation, with a 74 per cent consent rate.
Abdominal organ transplants, particularly kidneys, were substantially reduced during the lockdown compared with the same period in 2019, but heart transplants, although reduced, were not as affected, and accounted for 9 per cent of all transplants compared with 5 per cent in 2019.
Since the relaxation of the lockdown measures, the upper age limit for donation after circulatory death has been increased to 60 years, three suspended renal programmes have re-opened and many specialist nurses have returned to their usual roles.
Further data are now needed on the morbidity and mortality due to SARS-CoV-2 infection in transplant recipients and those awaiting transplantation.
