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Influence of the Omicron outbreak on allo-HSCT recipients in China: a single-center short-term observational cohort study

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 59, pages 437–439 (2024)Cite this article

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A national-level prevention strategy of “Zero-COVID” was applied in China since January 2020 [1]. After the abrupt relaxation of “Zero-COVID” measures in December 2022, a full-blown outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in China. The dominant strains in Jiangsu Province (location of our center) were Omicron variants BF.7 and BA.5.2, and their proportions were almost equal. Earlier studies reported poor outcomes of allogenic haematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT) recipients infected by SARS-CoV-2 [2, 3], therefore allo-HSCT recipients in China continued with strict quarantine after beginning of the pandemic. Accessible prevention strategies like vaccination and therapeutic strategies including convalescent plasma, monoclonal antibodies and antiviral drugs differed this wave of infection from COVID-19 pandemics before [4,5,6]. Nevertheless, many recipients were still infected in this wave of the pandemic. Although a comprehensive therapeutic strategy was applied to infected recipients, especially those with pneumonia, some still developed severe and critical COVID-19. Based on patients with confirmed COVID-19, previous studies showed that older age, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and administration of immunosuppressive agents (IS) were associated with a worse outcome [7]. The dominant strain changed from Delta to Omicron and the policy of abrupt end of quarantine was distinct in the first wave of SARA-CoV-2 infection in China, however, the incidence of COVID-19 in the allo-HSCT recipients is still not clear.

To report the incidence and risk factors for COVID-19 and to explore the short-term influence exerted by COVID-19 on HSCT recipients, a single-center retrospective study was performed in a total of 620 consecutive hematological diseases from October 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022. After the relaxation of “Zero-COVID” measures since December 1, 2022 (pandemic time), a short-term follow-up of 3 months was observed to March 15, 2023. All recipients still maintained a good personal self-segregation habit. Patient enrollment, diagnosis and medical intervention strategies for COVID-19 were demonstrated in Supplementary materials, in which the methodologies of statistical analyses were also presented in detail. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University [Protocol number: (2023) 138], and informed consent forms were collected from all enrolled patients.

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Data availability

Data availability on request from the authors.

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Funding

This study was supported by grant from the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFA0111004, 2022YFC2502701), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82170158, 81970142, 82100175), the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (21KJD320002).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Zhiyu Zhang, Man Qiao, Xiebing Bao.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology, First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China

    Zhiyu Zhang, Man Qiao, Xiebing Bao, Jing Lu, Jingren Zhang, Xueqing Dou, Xuefeng He, Xiaojin Wu, Chengcheng Fu, Xiaowen Tang, Miao Miao, Yue Han, Shengli Xue, Huiying Qiu, Caixia Li, Yin Wang, Zhengming Jin, Depei Wu & Su-ning Chen

  2. Jiangsu Institute of Hematology, Suzhou, China

    Zhiyu Zhang, Man Qiao, Xiebing Bao, Jing Lu, Jingren Zhang, Xueqing Dou, Xuefeng He, Xiaojin Wu, Chengcheng Fu, Xiaowen Tang, Miao Miao, Yue Han, Shengli Xue, Huiying Qiu, Caixia Li, Yin Wang, Zhengming Jin, Depei Wu & Su-ning Chen

  3. National Clinical Research Center for Hematologic Diseases, Suzhou, China

    Zhiyu Zhang, Man Qiao, Xiebing Bao, Jing Lu, Jingren Zhang, Xueqing Dou, Xuefeng He, Xiaojin Wu, Chengcheng Fu, Xiaowen Tang, Miao Miao, Yue Han, Shengli Xue, Huiying Qiu, Caixia Li, Yin Wang, Zhengming Jin, Depei Wu & Su-ning Chen

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  1. Zhiyu Zhang
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Contributions

SC and MQ designed the research study. ZZ, MQ, JL and JZ collected the data. ZZ and XD edited the manuscript. XB performed the statistical analysis. The other authors were in charge of patients’ treatment and performed HSCT.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Man Qiao, Xiebing Bao or Su-ning Chen.

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Zhang, Z., Qiao, M., Bao, X. et al. Influence of the Omicron outbreak on allo-HSCT recipients in China: a single-center short-term observational cohort study. Bone Marrow Transplant 59, 437–439 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-023-02188-w

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