Clinical and Economic Burden Associated With Anti-Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Prophylaxis Therapies in Adult Kidney Transplant Recipients (LECOCYT): An Observational Study

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The incidence of leukopenia and neutropenia associated with cytomegalovirus (CMV) prophylaxis in kidney transplant (KT) recipients is not well established. LECOCYT, a prospective observational multicenter study, aimed to investigate the clinical and economic burdens of CMV prophylaxis during the first 6 months post-transplantation. Grade 3 or 4 leukopenia or neutropenia was assessed in CMV-seropositive donors/CMV-seronegative recipients (D+/R-) who received current anti-CMV prophylaxis, and in CMV-seronegative donors/CMV-seronegative recipients (D-/R-) who did not. The economic burden in D+/R- was also evaluated. The adjusted odds ratio for grade 3 or 4 leukopenia or neutropenia was 5.16 [95% confidence interval: 1.97-13.53] for D+/R- group. The median costs, excluding the KT procedure, for D+/R- subgroup patients who experienced at least one episode of severe leukopenia or neutropenia were approximately €4,500 (Q1 = €561; Q3 = €10,000). D+/R- patients with no episode incurred significantly lower costs, with a median of nearly €2,100 (Q1 = €182; Q3 = €6,500) (p = 0.02). D+/R- patients with severe leukopenia or neutropenia had a higher rate of outpatient consultations than those without episode (73.9% vs. 57.6%, p = 0.002), and a higher average number of consultations per patient (5.5 ± 4.1 vs. 4.5 ± 3.3, p = 0.042) than D+/R- patients without. Anti-CMV prophylaxis in D+/R- transplant recipients was significantly associated with a higher rate of severe leukopenia or neutropenia compared to no prophylaxis in D-/R- recipients.