Survival of lupus nephritis patients after renal transplantation in malaga

Background

Studies have shown that the survival of patients with lupus nephritis (LN) who receive a transplant has results similar to those of nondiabetic control subjects.

Objective

The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival of lupus patients who received a transplant at our center, and to determine risk factors for mortality and graft loss.

Methods

This case-control (1:2) study comprised patients with chronic kidney disease secondary to LN who received a kidney transplant (n = 32) in the Malaga area from 1985 to 2010. The controls subjects (n = 64) were matched by age, sex, and transplant period. We analyzed graft and patient survivals and risk factors compared with long-term transplant patients without LN.

Results

No differences were found in the variables analyzed between groups, except for the most frequent cause of donor death, which was almost significant: stroke in LN and traumatic brain injury in control subjects (P = .05). of the whole study sample, 45% lost the graft, primarily owing to chronic kidney disease (53.5%), followed by vascular thrombosis (16.3%); P = .57. Censored graft losses occurred in 63% of the patients transplanted before 2000, whereas it occurred in 20% of those transplanted after 2000 (P < .001). Censored graft survival was similar between the groups throughout the followup, as was patient survival. Cox regression showed that only acute rejection was associated with a 2-fold increased risk of graft loss.

Conclusions

Our lupus transplant population showed no differences in graft or patient survival compared with control subjects. Those patients who received a transplant from 2000 had better results, which may be related to several factors, such as immunosuppression, correction of cardiovascular conditions, or other factors. Risk factors for death and graft loss were similar to the control population.