Long-term outcomes of kidney transplantation in recipients 60 years of age and older at the University of Florida

Abstract

As the population ages, the transplant community will continue to see "elderly" patients with end-stage kidney disease who are seeking transplantation. In this report we describe long-term outcomes of 315 primary kidney transplants performed at the University of Florida in recipients aged > or = 60 years and compare them to results from 3 younger recipient cohorts. Among recipients > or = 60 years, patient survival was significantly worse than for younger recipients but no differences in graft or death-censored graft survival were seen. We suspect that although patient survival was worst in the oldest group, there were likely other causes of graft loss within the younger groups that balanced the effects of death on graft survival in the oldest group. Among recipients aged > or = 60 years, patient survival at 10 years was 55% for living-donor kidney recipients and 46% for deceased-donor kidney recipients. African-American recipients had a higher risk of mortality and graft loss in all age groups after deceased donor kidney transplantation but not after living donor transplantation. Delayed graft function negatively impacted outcomes among all recipients and the adverse effects were greater after deceased donor than living donor transplantation. These effects were also seen within the oldest recipient age group. Increased donor age was a significant risk factor for death and graft loss among all age groups after deceased donor kidney transplantation but not among living-donor kidney recipients. More specifically, recipients aged > or = 60 years who received kidneys from donors > or = 60 years demonstrated significantly worse outcomes when compared to those receiving donor kidneys < 60 years. The presence of diabetes mellitus in recipients > or = 60 years was not a significant risk factor for mortality or graft loss after transplantation. Acceptable results can be obtained after kidney transplantation in recipients aged > or = 60 years. Future investigations should focus on improving recipient selection in the elderly population, identifying strategies to minimize DGF in deceased donor kidneys, understanding all variables involved in the risk associated with recipient race, and increasing living donor transplantation across all age groups.