Study: Health of Donor Key to Transplant Success Using Older Kidneys

French researchers report that while transplants using kidneys from donors older than 60 years are significantly more likely to fail, the increased risk of failure of the transplanted kidney is linked to the health and cause of death of the donorand not simply to age.

The researchers studied 7,209 cadaveric kidney transplants that took place from 1996 to 2000, of which 544 were from donors over 60 years old.

Analysis of risk factors showed a significant reduction of graft survival in recipients transplanted with kidneys coming from donors older than 60 years, the researchers reported in the journal Transplantation.

But a more detailed analysis found that a significantly higher failure rate was associated with cerebrovascular cause of death of the donor, the donor having a history of hypertension or an elevated serum creatinine level, whereas donor age greater than 60 years was not found as an independent risk factor.

"Our results suggest that cerebrovascular cause of death, history of hypertension, and elevated creatinine are significant independent donor risk factors for graft survival, whereas donor age is a statistically significant, but dependent, risk factor," the researchers concluded.

Other Sources: Transplantation (February 15, 2003; 361-367)