BOSTON—Elderly patients who remain on dialysis are more likely to die than those who receive a deceased-donor kidney transplant, researchers reported at the 2012 American Transplant Congress.

Researchers in Spain studied 772 patients older than 65 years: 386 recipients of cadaveric kidneys with 386 patients who remained on dialysis. Patient characteristics were similar in both group. Patient survival after the first, fifth, and ninth year was 93.1%, 83%, and 66% for the transplant recipients, respectively, compared with 90.8%, 54.6%, and 30.3%, respectively, for those who remained on dialysis. The findings translated into a threefold increased risk for the patients who remained on dialysis.

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Transplantation