Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2008;23:1026-1031
Renal transplant recipients have similar death-censored graft survival regardless of age, according to researchers in Norway.
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Kristian Heldal, MD, of Telemark Hospital in Skien, and collaborators compared outcomes in three groups of renal transplant patients: 301 elderly (aged 70 years and older), 513 senior (aged 60-69 years), and 512 controls (aged 45-54 years). Death-censored graft survival rates for the three groups were 89%, 88%, and 90%, respectively.
The differences were not significant. Five-year actuarial patient survival, however, did differ significantly; it was 56%, 72%, and 91% for the elderly, senior, and control groups, respectively. Living kidney donation was used in 35% of transplants: 17% in the elderly, 34% in senior patients, and 47% in control patients.
“Given the poor prognosis during dialysis treatment,” the authors concluded, “selected elderly patients may successfully be offered a kidney transplant.”
