Study: 1 Kidney Transplant Recipient in 5 Gets Diabetes Within 2 Years

More than one adult kidney transplant recipient in every five winds up being diagnosed with new onset diabetes mellitus (NODM) in the first two years after transplant, according to a report in the American Journal of Transplantation.

University of New Hampshire researchers reported that the incidence of new onset diabetes mellitus diagnosed within the first two years after transplant was 30 percent among kidney recipients taking the anti-rejection drug Prograf, and 18 percent among those on cyclosporine immunosuppression.

Researchers have long known that some anti-rejection medications appear to induce post-transplant diabetes mellitus in kidney transplant recipients, but the new study is believed the first to attempt to quantify the phenomenon on a nationwide basis.

The researchers derived the numbers from a study of the United States Renal Data System's records for adult, first, single-organ, renal transplantations that took place in 1996 or 1997. In addition to quantifying the incidence of new diabetes, they also sought to estimate its cost.

"By two years post-transplant, Medicare paid [on average] an extra $21, 500 per newly diabetic patient," the researchers concluded.

Other Sources: American Journal of Transplantation