Causes of Most Kidney Transplant Patient Deaths Reported as Unknown

NEW ORLEANS—Causes of death are reported as unknown for most kidney transplant recipients who die with a functioning allograft, according to a study presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2017 meeting. The study also showed declining trends in the risk of cause-specific death over time.

Sankar D. Navaneethan, MD, and colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston examined a cohort of 196,748 patients (data source: United States Renal Data System) who received their first kidney transplant from 1996 to 2012. Of these, 40,742 died with functioning allografts. The cause of death was reported as unknown for 64% of patients. For those with a reported cause of death, cardiovascular deaths accounted for 37%, malignancy 14%, infection 21%, and other causes 28% of deaths, Dr Navaneethan’s group reported.

In addition, the study showed that patients who underwent transplantation in more recent years had lower risks for death compared with patients who underwent transplantation in 1996. Compared with patients who received a kidney in 1996, those who received a kidney in 2003 had a 43%, 38%, and 34% decreased 10-year risk of death from cardiovascular events, infections, and malignancy, respectively, after adjusting for age, sex, and race, according to the investigators.

Reference

Navaneethan SD, Niu J, Mandayam SA, et al. Causes of death among kidney transplant recipients in the United States. Data presented in poster format at Kidney Week 2017 in New Orleans (Oct. 31 to Nov. 5). Abstract TH-PO978.