Survival benefit of renal transplantation in octogenarians.

Abstract

Elderly patients are the fastest growing population requiring renal replacement therapy. As previous studies have shown a survival benefit of kidney transplantation compared to dialysis for end-stage renal disease, we sought to evaluate if this survival benefit extends to octogenarians. This was a single-center retrospective cohort study of renal allograft recipients ≥80years transplanted from 1999 to 2014 who were compared to patients listed during the same period that did not proceed to transplantation. A secondary matched group was selected from the UNOS transplant waitlist database. The primary outcome was patient survival. Secondary outcomes included graft survival and rejection incidence. Thirty-three transplanted patients were compared to 71 patients waitlisted at our center and 66 patients from the UNOS database. Patients in the study group were transplanted 20.8±16.1months after listing. Patient survival was 87.8% at 6months and 1year and 71.4% at 3years. Kidney transplantation was associated with a significant decrease in the risk of death after listing (HR: 0.22, CI: 0.11-0.45, P<.001). With escalating life expectancy, kidney transplantation is a suitable treatment option in eligible octogenarians.