Dyslipidemia Can Be Controlled in Diabetic as Well as Nondiabetic Recipients After Kidney Transplant

Abstract

Patients with diabetes have been reported to have greater dyslipidemia after kidney transplant (KTX). Because postKTX management of diabetes has changed markedly since those reports, we hypothesized that lipids can be controlled as well in diabetic as in nondiabetic recipients. We compared lipid levels up to 2 years after KTX (n=192) between diabetic and nondiabetic recipients. The cohort was subdivided into nondiabetic (nonDM-K; n=123), type 2 (DM2-K; n=33), or type 1 diabetes after KTX (DM1-K; n=14), or type 1 after kidney-pancreas transplant (DM1-KP; n=22). Mean age and body mass index of DM2-K were greater than the others (P<0.01), and diabetes groups had a higher pretransplant A1C than nonDM-K (P<0.001). After KTX, lipid levels were not higher in diabetic than in nondiabetic recipients, and did not increase in any group. Total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels decreased in DM1-K (P<0.001), high-density lipoprotein levels decreased in DM1-KP (P=0.02), and triglyceride levels were unchanged after KTX for all groups. A1C improved in DM1-K and DM1-KP (P<0.0001). There was less improvement in lipid levels with tacrolimus-sirolimus immunosuppression than with other steroid-containing regimens (P<0.05). Multiple mechanisms may contribute to better lipid levels in both groups as well as the lack of difference between diabetic and nondiabetic recipients compared with what has been reported previously: greater use of and more effective lipid-lowering agents, no significant weight gain, no difference in renal function between groups, and better control of glucose in the diabetic group. Thus, overall, lipids can be controlled as well in diabetic as in nondiabetic KTX recipients.