Transplant Outcomes Better in IgA Nephropathy Patients

Among patients receiving their first kidney transplant, those who have IgA nephropathy have better outcomes than other recipients, researchers reported at the National Kidney Foundation’s 2014 Spring Clinical Meetings in Las Vegas.

Aditya Kadiyala, MD, of Hofstra-North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System in Great Neck, NY, and colleagues analyzed data from 98,450 adult first-time kidney transplant recipients. Of these, 4,005 had IgA as the primary diagnosis and 90,845 did not. The IgA group had significantly better unadjusted 5-year death-censored graft survival and patient survival than the non-IgA group (96.3% vs. 87.3% and 95.1% vs. 84.0%, respectively). The IgA group had a significant 71% decreased risk of death-censored graft loss and 70% decreased risk of death.

The researchers obtained data from the United Network for Organ Sharing/Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network database. Diabetes was presented in 3.9% of the IgAN group compared with 31.9% of the non-IgA group. The IgA group had a higher proportion of Asians than the non-IgA group (16.4% vs. 4.5%).

Additionally, the IgA group was younger than the non-IgA group (42.6 vs. 50 years) and had a higher proportion of men (65.6% vs. 60.6%).