Kidney Transplant Outcomes for Prolonged Cold Ischemic Times in the Context of Kidney Paired Donation

The need for kidneys outweighs the current organ supply. This study examines the impact of longer cold ischemic time (CIT) on graft outcomes to help expand living donor transplantation in kidney paired donation (KPD). In a retrospective cohort study of 48,498 living donor (LD) recipients in the United States between 2005-15, multivariate survival analyses reveal no association between CIT <16 hours for all-cause graft loss, or death-censored graft loss (hazard ratios for CIT 8.0-16.0 hours (0.97; 95% CI 0.74-1.26) and (1.09; 95% CI 0.81-1.48) respectively, compared to CIT 0.1-2.0 hours). These results were robust in LD >50 years and in KPD and non-KPD transplants. While there was a higher incidence of delayed graft function (DGF) in groups with longer CIT, the overall incidence of DGF was low. Multivariate regression analyses show increased odds of DGF only in CIT 8.1-16 hours compared to 0.1-2.0 hours (odds ratio: 1.47; 95% CI 1.05-2.05)

Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant and Effect of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions, British Columbia, Canada

In British Columbia, Canada, initial growth of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant was slower than that reported in other jurisdictions. Delta became the dominant variant (>50% prevalence) within ≈7–13 weeks of first detection in regions within the United Kingdom and United States. In British Columbia, it remained at <10% of weekly incident COVID-19 cases for 13 weeks after first detection on March 21, 2021, eventually reaching dominance after 17 weeks. We describe the growth of Delta variant cases in British Columbia during March 1–June 30, 2021, and apply retrospective counterfactual modeling to examine factors for the initially low COVID-19 case rate after Delta introduction, such as vaccination coverage and nonpharmaceutical interventions. Growth of COVID-19 cases in the first 3 months after Delta emergence was likely limited in British Columbia because additional nonpharmaceutical interventions were implemented to reduce levels of contact at the end of March 2021, soon after variant emergence