High intra-patient variability of tacrolimus within post-operative 1month predicted worse 1-year outcomes in pediatric liver transplant recipients.

Abstract

The pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus (TAC) show high intra-patient variability (IPV), which is associated with poor long-term outcomes following adult liver transplantation(LT). However, this relationship remains to be confirmed in pediatric liver transplant (PLT) recipients. The present study aimed to investigate the association between TAC IPV and grafts or patient outcomes after pediatric liver transplantion. This retrospective study included 848 PLT recipients (including infants) between January, 2016, and June, 2021. The IPV of TAC concentrations was estimated by calculating the coefficient of variation (CV) of trough concentrations in whole blood within 1month after transplantation. Patients were categorized into two groups, low IPV (CV < 45%) and high IPV (CV ≥ 45%), based on the third quartile of the CV distribution. A total of 848 patients were included in our study. The low CV group included 614 patients, with a mean TAC trough concentration of 8.59 ± 1.65ng/ml and a median CV of 32.37%. In contrast, the high CV group included 214 patients, the mean TAC trough concentration and median CV were 8.81 ± 2.00ng/ml and 54.88%, respectively. The median hospital duration was significantly higher in the high CV group (22days vs. 20days, P = 0.01). Univariate analysis was performed to evaluate the significant differences in 1-year recipient survival (P = 0.041) and 1-year graft survival (P = 0.005) between the high- and low-CV groups. Moreover, high CV (HR 2.316, 95%CI 1.026-5.231, P = 0.043) and persistent EBV viremia (HR 13.165, 95%CI 3.090-56.081, P < 0.001) were identified as independent risk factors for 1- year mortality after PLT. PLT recipients with high TAC trough concentration of CV in the first month were associated with poor 1-year outcomes. This CV calculation provides a valuable strategy to monitor TAC exposure.