title: Impact of hepatitis C virus on renal transplantation: association with poor survival.
abstract: Data concerning the effect of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on the long-term outcome of patient and allograft survival are conflicting. We performed a retrospective study including all renal transplant recipients who underwent the procedure at our center between July 1983 and December 2004. We compared HCV-positive (n = 155) versus HCV-negative (n = 1044) recipients for the prevalence of anti-HCV, patient/donor characteristics, and graft/patient survival. The prevalence of HCV-positive patients was 12%. The anti-HCV positive recipients displayed a longer time on dialysis (P < .001), more blood transfusions prior to transplant (P < .001), and a higher number of previous transplants (P < .001). There were no differences in the incidence of acute rejection between the two groups. Patient (P = .006) and graft survival (P = .012) were significantly lower in the HCV-positive than the HCV-negative group. Graft survival censored for patient death with a functioning kidney did not differ significantly between HCV-positive and HCV-negative recipients (P = .083). Death from infectious causes was significantly higher among the HCV-positive group (P = .014). We concluded that HCV infection had a significant detrimental impact on patient and renal allograft prognosis. Death from infectious causes was significantly more frequent among HCV-positive than the non-HCV population.
authors.affiliation: Nephrology and Transplant Departments, Hospital Geral de Santo António, Largo Professor Abel Salazar, 4050-011 Porto, Portugal. sofiapedroso@sapo.pt
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pedroso
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Henriques
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Sarmento
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cabrita
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000453:epidemiology; D006085:Graft Survival; D016174:Hepacivirus; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000821:virology; D011336:Probability; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate