Association of Donors With US Public Health Service Risk Criteria and Outcomes After Adult vs Pediatric Cardiac Transplant
Authors: Burstein Danielle S. , Rossano Joseph W. , Lindenfeld JoAnn , Schlendorf Kelly H. , Do Nhue , Godown Justin , O’Connor Matthew J. , Maeda Katsuhide , Edelson Jonathan B. , Lin Kimberly Y. , Mazurek Jeremy A. , Scholl Shelley R. , Menachem Jonathan N. 
Published: September 2022

Importance

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) evaluates donor risk for acute transmission of HIV, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C based on US Public Health Services (PHS)–specific criteria. However, recent data regarding use and outcomes of those donors with PHS risk criteria among pediatric and adult heart transplant recipients are lacking.

Objective

To compare use and outcomes of graft from donors with PHS risk criteria vs those with a standard-risk donor (SRD) in children vs adults in a contemporary cohort.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This cohort was a nationwide analysis of heart transplants in the US that used data from the UNOS database. Participants were children (&amp;lt;18 years old) and adults (≥18 years old) who received a heart transplant from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2021.

Exposures

UNOS-defined donor risk status.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Trend analysis compared changes in PHS risk criteria use among children and adults. Patient survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier curves with log rank and Cox proportional hazards to compare PHS risk-criteria outcomes vs SRD-criteria outcomes in children and adult heart transplant recipients. Additional analysis was performed among adults who received a PHS–risk criteria graft that was previously declined for pediatric recipients.

Results

Of 5115 pediatric transplant recipients (donor without PHS risk median [IQR] age, 5 [0-13] years and donor with PHS risk median [IQR] age, 8 [0-14] years) and 30 289 adult heart transplant recipients (donor without PHS risk median [IQR] age, 56 [46-63] years and donor with PHS risk median [IQR] age, 57 [47-63] years), PHS risk criteria comprised 8% in children vs 25% in adults. PHS criteria are being increasingly used over the past decade with the proportion of recipients transplanted with PHS risk-criteria donors being approximately 3 times greater among adult recipients than children recipients. Pediatric recipients of a PHS risk-criteria donor had greater pretransplant ventilatory support, whereas adult recipients of a PHS risk-criteria donor had greater pretransplant extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use. Patient survival was similar between pediatric recipients of PHS risk-criteria grafts vs SRD-criteria grafts and slightly higher among adult recipients of PHS risk-criteria grafts vs SRD-criteria grafts. The 1778 adult recipients who received a PHS criteria-risk donor that was previously declined for pediatric recipients had similar patient survival recipients compared with SRD-criteria donors (HR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.81-1.03; P = .18).

Conclusions and Relevance

In the current era, a 3-fold greater proportion of adult recipients receive a PHS risk-criteria graft compared with children despite similar posttransplant patient survival. The ongoing organ donor shortage underscores the need for consideration of PHS risk criteria where these donors remain underused.