Drug Overdose Donors For Liver Transplants Increased Amid Pandemic: 'It Comes At A Cost'

Liver transplants from donors who died of drug overdoses "rose at a surprising rate" amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a team of researchers has found. It kept the number of liver transplants in the U.S. stable even with the disruptions posed by the pandemic.

For their study, which was presented Sunday at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2022 in San Diego, the researchers had a closer look at the characteristics of the donors for all solid organ transplants 14 months before and after the beginning of the pandemic.

Interestingly, they didn't find a decline in liver transplants after the pandemic began, even though there were disruptions in surgeries, study lead author Peter Lymberopoulos, of St. George's University, said in a press release. However, this may be due to the "surge of organ donors who died from drug overdose."

"Among liver transplants, we found that the number of overdose donors rose at a surprising rate in the pandemic's first 14 months, compared to the previous 14 months," said Lymberopoulos. "Organ transplants are experiencing success, but it often comes at a cost. In many cases, that cost is primarily young males dying prematurely from overdoses."

Specifically, liver donors who died of an overdose increased from 15.1% before COVID-19 to 18.3% during COVID-19. The numbers also increased in terms of all solid organ transplants, with drug overdose donors also increasing from 14.2% to 17.2%.

The study adds to the body of research on the increase in organ donations from drug overdose deaths during the ongoing opioid epidemic in the U.S., noted DDW. The crisis, which has been going on for decades, even appears to have worsened amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, for instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data suggested an "acceleration" in overdose deaths during the pandemic, fueled primarily by synthetic opioids. By March last year, data showed a "record number" of predicted drug overdose deaths.

Their work also adds to the understanding of the dire impact of the pandemic on people's health. In 2021, a team of researchers also found that the rise in alcohol consumption during the pandemic also increased the demand for liver transplants.

The study team surmised that perhaps the "pandemic-related socioeconomic stressors" contributed to the drug overdose deaths, most of which were likely opioid-related.

They are reportedly planning to look further at the data to see if the trend continued during the second year of the pandemic.