Study: Type 1 Diabetics Have Poor Outcomes After Liver Transplant

Patients with type 1 diabetes patients have signicantly poorer outcomes following a liver transplant than other liver transplant patients, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

The researchers, using data from the United Network for Organ Sharing database, compared outcomes for 1,629 patients with type 1 diabetes, 1,618 patients with type 2 diabetes, and 17,974 with no diabetes who received liver transplants between 1994 and 2001.

They reported in the journal Transplantation that they found a lower 1-year, 2-year, and 5-year survival rate -- both for the transplanted organ and the patient -- in those with type 1 diabetes compared with nondiabetics.

The 5-year survival rate for type 1 diabetes was approximately 40 percent lower than for non-diabetics, the researchers reported.

Type 1 diabetics who had coronary artery disease had even worse outcomes, the researchers reported.

"Type 1 diabetes and coronary artery disease are both independent predictors of poor outcome after liver transplantation," the researchers concluded.

Other sources: Transplantation