Kidney transplantation in type 2 diabetic patients: a comparison with matched non-diabetic subjects.
BACKGROUND
Because they generally are older and frequently have co-morbidities, patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and end-stage renal disease seldom are selected for renal transplantation. Thus, information on transplantation results from controlled studies in this high-risk category of patients is scarce. We have compared the results of kidney transplantations in type 2 diabetic patients with carefully matched non-diabetic subjects.


METHODS
All first cadaveric renal transplants performed in type 2 diabetic patients from January 1, 1988 to December 31, 1998 in our centre were included. Non-diabetic controls were individually matched with diabetic patients with respect to year of transplantation, sex, age, selected immunological parameters, and graft cold ischaemia.


RESULTS
We included 64 type 2 diabetic and 64 non-diabetic patients who were followed for a mean period of 37+/-27 and 41+/-31 months, respectively, after renal transplantation. Patient survival at 1 and 5 years post-transplant was 85 and 69 vs 84 and 74% (P=0.43, NS), while graft survival rates censored for patient death were 84 and 77 vs 82 and 77% for diabetic and non-diabetic subjects, respectively (P=0.52, NS). With graft survival results not censored for death with functioning graft, no significant change was seen (diabetic vs non-diabetic group: 77 and 54 vs 73 and 61%, P=0.19, NS). Age, but not the presence of diabetes, was the only factor significantly affecting patient survival when both patient groups were pooled. With regard to post-transplant complications requiring hospitalization, there was a significant difference only in the number of patients who had amputations (diabetic vs non-diabetic group: 8 vs 0, P=0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Patient and graft survival after kidney transplantation was similar in type 2 diabetic and matched non-diabetic subjects, with more amputations occurring in the diabetic group. Thus, at a single-centre level renal transplantation results almost equivalent to those in non-diabetic patients may be achieved in type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Diabetes and Transplant Centres, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic. petr.boucek@medicon.cz
Petr
P
Boucek
Frantisek
F
Saudek
Eva
E
Pokorna
Stefan
S
Vitko
Milos
M
Adamec
Radomira
R
Koznarova
Vera
V
Lanska
D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000601:surgery*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000601:surgery*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000601:surgery*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000502:physiology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010531:Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome