Kidney Allograft Survival: Relationship To Dialysis Compliance And Other Behaviors

The pretransplant dialysis records of 154 kidney transplant recipients were retrospectively reviewed to determine differences between 77 patients with graft loss and 77 matched patients without graft loss. A total of 1,601 dialysis unit patient visits were examined. Patients who had a history of alcohol abuse recorded in their charts were at a significantly greater risk to lose their grafts. Difficulty with keeping appointments occurred twice as frequently in the lost-graft group. Older patients were at greater risk for losing their grafts than were younger ones. Thus, there are markers present in the dialysis patient's medical record and history which may be useful when making a decision regarding a transplant candidate's potential for noncompliance to the transplant regimen.