Proteinuria >0.5 g/d, a prevalent prognostic factor for patient and graft survival in kidney transplantation

Abstract

Proteinuria >0.5 g/d (HP) and serum creatinine (Scr) >120 micromol/L (HSC) at three months, two and five yr were compared as prognostic factors in kidney transplantation. We retrospectively analyzed 454 first transplants (follow-up: 100 +/- 3.2 months). Donor/recipient age, sex, panel reactive antibody (PRA), HLA mismatches, cold ischemia time, delayed graft function, acute rejection, blood pressure and its treatment, diabetes and anti-calcineurin use were also evaluated. Cox proportional hazard regression with time-dependent covariates to control for potentially confounding factors was used to analyze survival. The Kaplan-Meier product-limit estimate for survival according to urine protein excretion (< or = or >0.5 g/d) or Scr (< or = or >120 micromol/L) along with the log-rank test for all comparisons were computed. Statistical significance was set with p-value < 0.05. HSC is a prognostic factor of graft survival (HR: 2.54; 95% CI: 1.98-3.10; p < 0.01) only at five yr, but it does not predict mortality at any period. HP at three months (HR: 2.07; 95% CI: 1.70-2.43; p < 0.001) and at two yr 3.03 (2.54-3.51; p < 0.001) significantly predicts graft failure. HP at two yr is the prevailingly prognostic factor of patient survival in kidney transplantation (HR: 3.30; 95% CI: 1.94-5.62; p < 0.0001).