Factors Influencing Long-Term Patient and Allograft Outcomes in Elderly Kidney Transplant Recipients.

introductionIndividuals aged ≥65 years are increasingly prevalent on the waitlist for kidney transplantation, yet evidence on recipient and donor factors that define optimal outcomes in elderly patients after kidney transplantation is scarce.

methodsWe used multivariable Cox regression modeling to determine the factors associated with all-cause death, death with a functioning graft, and overall and death-censored graft survival, using data from the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant (ANZDATA) registry.

resultsA total of 802 kidney transplant recipients aged ≥65 years underwent their first transplantation between June 2006 and December 2016. Median age at transplantation was 68 years (interquartile range = 66-69 years). The 1-year and 5-year overall patient and graft survivals (95% confidence interval [CI]) were 95.1 (93.5-96.7) and 79.0 (75.1-82.9), and 92.9 (91.1-94.7) and 75.4 (71.3-79.5), respectively. Factors associated with higher risks of all-cause death included prevalent coronary artery disease (adjusted hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] = 1.47 [1.03-2.11]), cerebrovascular disease (1.99 [1.26-3.16]), increasing graft ischemic time (1.06 per hour [1.03-1.09]), donor age (1.02 per year [1.01-1.03]), delayed graft function (1.64 [1.13-2.39]), and peritoneal dialysis pretransplantation (1.71 [1.17-2.51]).

conclusionPrevalent vascular disease and peritoneal dialysis as a pretransplantation dialysis modality are risk factors associated with poorer outcomes in transplant recipients aged ≥65 years. Careful selection and evaluation of potential candidates may improve graft and patient outcomes in older patients.