September 18, 2025Open Access

Kidney Transplantation in Older Recipients: One-Year Outcomes and Complications from a Single-Center Experience

Key Points

One-year patient survival was 97.3% for older recipients, showing favorable outcomes despite complications.
Older kidney transplant recipients were more impacted by diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases compared to younger counterparts.
Surgical complications and infections were significantly higher in the older group, indicating increased health risks.
The estimated glomerular filtration rate was lower in older recipients at discharge and one-year follow-up, but remained acceptable.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Each year, the number of kidney transplants (KT) performed in older recipients continues to rise. The process of aging may impact early post-transplant outcomes. The aim of this study was to analyze one-year outcomes, clinical and surgical complications, as well as patient and graft survival in senior recipients. Methods: This retrospective, observational study included a total of 270 participants who underwent KT during the period between January 2021 and April 2024. Recipients were divided into two groups: the older group (≥60 years; n = 75) and the younger group (<60 years; n = 195) and then analyzed during a one-year follow-up period. Results: Older recipients were characterized by a higher body mass index (MD = 1.77, CI95 0.63; 2.91, p = 0.002), suffered more often from diabetes mellitus (RR = 2.94, CI95 1.79; 4.82, p < 0.001), cardiovascular diseases (RR = 5.20, CI95 2.90; 9.32, p < 0.001) and were more likely to receive a kidney from older (MD = 12.37, CI95 8.94; 15.80, p < 0.001) deceased (p < 0.001) donors. Senior patients had more infections (p = 0.019) and surgical complications (RR = 1.81, CI95 1.14; 2.87, p = 0.020), more cardiac events (RR = 2.28, CI95 1.17; 4.43, p = 0.025), and a higher incidence of delayed graft function (p < 0.001) compared to younger patients. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was significantly lower in the older group both at initial hospital discharge (MD = −6.50, CI95 −13.00; −3.00, p = 0.004) and at one-year follow-up (MD = −11.79, CI95 −17.32; −6.25, p < 0.001). No differences were observed in the incidence of biopsy-proven acute rejection, cytomegalovirus replication, and polyomavirus replication. One-year patient and graft survival was 97.3% and 94.7% in the older group, and 98.5% and 96.9% in the younger group, respectively. Conclusions: Kidney transplantation in older recipients is safe in the short term. Although eGFR was lower in the older group, it remained within an acceptable range.

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Cite This Study

Barbachowska-Kubik et al. (Wed,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/68d461cb31b076d99fa6111a https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14186545

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