• Ian Tatt Liew, Yeli Wang, Terence Kee, Ping Sing Tee, Rupesh Madhukar Shirore, Sobhana Thangaraju, Quan Yao Ho, York Moi Lu, Jin Hua Yong, Fiona Foo, Eleanor Ng, Xia He, Constance Lee, Shannon Baey, Marjorie Foo, and Tazeen Hasan Jafar.
• SingHealth Duke-NUS Transplant Centre; Department of Renal Medicine, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore.
• Singapore Med J. 2023 May 30.

BackgroundEffective interventions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic require an understanding of patients' knowledge and perceptions that influence their behaviour. Our study assessed knowledge of COVID-19 among kidney transplant recipients and donors, hitherto unevaluated.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey among 325 kidney transplant recipients and 172 donors between 1 May 2020 and 30 June 2020. The survey questionnaire assessed knowledge levels of COVID-19, sociodemographic data, health status, psychosocial impact of COVID-19 and precautionary behaviours during the pandemic.ResultsThe mean COVID-19 knowledge score of the study population was 7.5 (standard deviation: 2.2) out of 10. The mean score was significantly higher among kidney recipients compared to kidney donors (7.9 [1.9] vs. 6.7 [2.6]; P <0.001). Younger age (21-49 vs. ≥50 years) and higher education (diploma and higher vs. secondary and lower) were associated with significantly higher knowledge scores in donors, but not among recipients (P-interactions ≤0.01). In both kidney recipients and donors, financial concerns and/or social isolation were associated with lower knowledge levels.ConclusionsConcerted efforts are needed to improve COVID-19 knowledge in kidney transplant recipients and donors, particularly older donors, donors with lower education and patients with financial concerns or feelings of social isolation. Intensive patient education may mitigate the impact of education levels on COVID-19 knowledge levels.

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