Effect of Obesity on Clinical Outcomes of Kidney Transplant Patients

• Published in: Transplantation proceedings 2019-05, Vol.51 (4), p.1093-1095
• Main Authors: Erturk, T., Berber, I., Cakir, U.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Cardiovascular Diseases - etiology; Delayed Graft Function - epidemiology; Delayed Graft Function - etiology; Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology; Diabetes Mellitus - etiology; Female; Graft Survival; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Kidney Transplantation - adverse effects; Kidney Transplantation - mortality; Living Donors; Male; Middle Aged; Obesity - complications; Obesity - mortality; Proportional Hazards Models; Survival Rate
• ISSN: 0041-1345; 1873-2623
• DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2019.02.012

Correlating with the obesity epidemic, the number of obese transplant candidates is increasing. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of obesity on the survival of our kidney transplant recipients. Among 1033 kidney transplants performed during the last 7.5 years in our center, 750 adult recipients were transplanted from living donors and were evaluated, and 561 of them were included in the study. Demographic and clinical data were collected. Body mass index (BMI) values at the time of transplant and post-transplant during the first year, the presence of delayed graft function, hospitalization duration, number of readmissions within the first year post-transplant, presence of post-transplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM) and cardiovascular disease, and graft and patient survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were investigated. Obesity (BMI >30) was observed in 148 (19.7%) at the time of the transplant (initial obesity) and in 174 (23.2%) recipients at post-transplant first year. Initial obesity was not only found to be correlated with delayed wound healing (P = .03), increased hospitalization duration (P = .03), number of readmissions within the first year (P = .04), presence of PTDM (P = .02), and cardiovascular disease (P = .03) but also with lower graft survival rate (P = .04) at the first year. On the other hand, obesity at post-transplant the first year was associated with lower 3- and 5-year grafts (P = .04 and P = .03, respectively) and 5-year patient (P = .03) survival rates. Obesity should not be considered as a contraindication for kidney transplantation; however, to achieve better results, certain precautions should be taken pre- and postoperatively.