Survival after Kidney Transplantation during Childhood and Adolescence

Background and objectives Survival in pediatric kidney transplant recipients has improved over the past five decades, but changes in cause-specific mortality remain uncertain. The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to estimate the associations between transplant era and overall and cause-specific mortality for child and adolescent recipients of kidney transplants. Design, setting, participants, & measurements Data were obtained on all children and adolescents (aged Results A total of 1810 recipients (median age at transplantation 14 years, 58% male, 52% living donor) were followed for a median of 13.4 years. Of these, 431 (24%) died, 174 (40%) from cardiovascular causes, 74 (17%) from infection, 50 (12%) from cancer, and 133 (31%) from other causes. Survival rates improved over time, with 5-year survival rising from 85% for those first transplanted in 1970–1985 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 81% to 88%) to 99% in 2005–2015 (95% CI, 98% to 100%). This was primarily because of reductions in deaths from cardiovascular causes (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.25; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.68) and infections (aHR, 0.16; 95% CI, 0.04 to 0.70; both for 2005–2015 compared with 1970–1985). Compared with patients transplanted 1970–1985, mortality risk was 72% lower among those transplanted 2005–2015 (aHR, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.18 to 0.69), after adjusting for potential confounders. Conclusions Survival after pediatric kidney transplantation has improved considerably over the past four decades, predominantly because of marked reductions in cardiovascular- and infection-related deaths.