Use of tacrolimus and the development of posttransplant diabetes mellitus: a Brazilian single-center, observational study

Abstract

Introduction: Posttransplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM) is considered to be a serious complication of kidney transplantation that may reduce patient and graft survival. The immunosuppressant tacrolimus (TAC) increases the risk of developing PTDM.

Purpose: We sought to estimate the risk of PTDM among renal transplant recipients treated with TAC, to identify other risk factors for PTDM, and to describe its consequences.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 413 recipients of ages >or=18 years who were free of diabetes before kidney transplantation. They were treated with TAC, cyclosporine (CyA), or sirolimus (SIR) plus steroid therapy with a minimum follow-up posttransplant of 6 months. PTDM was diagnosed according to American Diabetes Association guidelines.

Results: The mean age was 42.3 years and 230 (55.7%) were male. The initial immunosuppression for 171 (41.4%) patients was TAC; 221 (53.5%), CyA; and 21 (5.1%), SIR. PTDM occurred in 85/413 (20.6%) of patients. The median time to PTDM development was 54 days posttransplant. The cumulative incidence of PTDM was 24.6% and 17.2% for TAC and CyA treatment groups, respectively. In the intention-to-treat analysis, the proportion of patients receiving TAC who developed PTDM was significantly higher than that of CyA (HR = 1.6 [1.01-2.42]; P = .04). The Kaplan-Meier method showed that 78.5% patients taking TAC were free of PTDM at 6 months compared with 88.8% taking CyA (P = .003). The other independent risk factors were body mass index (BMI; P < .0001); recipient age (P < .0001) and acute rejection episodes (AE; P = .01). Three-year actuarial graft survivals were 85.5% for PTDM patients compared with 93.3% for those without diabetes (P = .021); patient survivals, 88.9% and 96.7%, respectively (P = .017).

Conclusion: The incidence of PTDM is associated with TAC use, recipient age, BMI, and ARE. Therefore, PTDM is an important risk factor for graft loss and mortality.