Introduction: Maintenance dialysis patients (MDP) are at higher risk of exposure with increased mortality from COVID-19 with generalized immunization becoming the cornerstone in prevention. This study aims to compare humoral response between hemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.
Materials and methods: Observational prospective study following HD and PD programs from a Portuguese Center receiving BNT162b2 vaccine. Specific anti-Spike IgG quantification to compare both for absolute value and non-responders (NR) between modalities and against risk factors.
Results: Of 67 MDP, 42 were HD and 25 PD patients. PD developed higher antibody titers after both first (median 5.44 vs. 0.99 AU/ml, p < 0.01) and second dose (median 170.43 vs. 65.81 AU/ml; p < 0.01). HD associated with NR after the first dose (p < 0.01).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated improved humoral immunogenicity with BNT162b2 in PD compared to HD patients. These differences are attributed to comorbidity burden and age differences, rather than dialysis modality.
Keywords: BNT162b2 (Pfizer BionNTech); COVID-19; Charlson comorbidity index; hemodialysis; peritoneal dialysis; vaccination.
© 2021 International Society for Apheresis, Japanese Society for Apheresis, and Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy.