Research claims that the number of global organ transplants has fallen during the pandemic | Coronavirus pandemic news

Data from 22 countries show that during the COVID-19 period, the number of transplant operations worldwide has decreased by an average of 15%.

A new study shows that in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of organ transplants performed globally has dropped significantly.

The research was conducted by the Italian-based European Organ Transplantation Association and was published in the medical journal The Lancet on Monday. Magazine, Analyzed data from 22 countries, and noticed that the number of transplant operations worldwide has fallen by an average of 15%.

The report’s lead author Olivier Obert of Paris Transplant Organization said that the first wave of the pandemic had a devastating effect on transplant availability in many countries, affecting waiting lists and causing significant loss of life.

The study included all kidney, liver, lung, and heart transplants performed during the COVID-19 outbreak and compared these numbers with the year before the pandemic began.

Japan (down 67%), Croatia and Hungary (all down 37%), the United Kingdom (down 31%), and Brazil (down 29%) saw significant declines in organ transplants.

In contrast, the authors found that Switzerland has hardly changed, with transplant operations reduced by only about 1%. The United States (down 4%), Norway (down 7%) and Canada (down 10%) also experienced relatively small declines.

In Germany, compared with the same period in 2019, from the beginning of the first wave to the end of the year, doctors transplanted nearly 330 organs—a decrease of 11%.

According to this research, scientists predict that “countries where the COVID-19 infection rate is under control and restrictions imposed by public health authorities are relaxed, there will be a large number of living donor transplants.”