Deceased Donor Kidney Transplantation in the United States from 1988 to 2011: An Analysis of the OPTN/UNOS Registry.

Zhu D, Everly MJ.

Clinical Transplants 2012, Chapter 1

Abstract

In the United States, over 170,000 first solitary deceased donor kidney transplants were reported to the United Network of Organ Sharing registry from 1988 to 2011. The composition of transplant recipients has changed over time. There were notable increases in older patients (31% to 64.5%), non-Caucasian patients (36% to 58%), obese patients (body mass index over 35: 11% to 37%), type II diabetes patients (1% to 28%), and patients with hypertension (17% to 31%). Death with functioning graft was a very important factor in analyzing kidney graft survival. The death-censored graft survival rate could more accurately reflect the relationships between risk factors and survival of kidney grafts. Younger patients, especially those younger than 35, had worse graft survival. Patients with diabetes as the primary disease showed poor graft survival, but the effect was not obvious compared to the majority of other primary diseases. Diabetes, either type I or type II, was a main contributor to patient death. There was notable progress in short-term graft survival over time. Long-term graft survival is still a problem. However, 5-year death-censored graft survival in patients who have survived longer than 1 year has improved by 7.9% from 1993 to today. Delayed graft function could impact both short- and long-term graft survival. Human leukocyte antigen compatibility was a main factor of graft survival. Zero mismatch patients have an 18% better 20-year death-censored graft survival than those with 6 antigen mismatches. Panel reactive antibody (PRA) is also an important factor to graft survival. PRA class I and class II has been reported to UNOS since 2004. PRA class II was slightly more related to graft survival compared to PRA class I.