Live donor kidney transplantation in India: effects of donor and recipient age on graft survival.

Introduction: The increasing gap between demand and supply of human kidneys has resulted in the use of more expanded criteria donor organs are used. The influence of age on short- and long-term survival of renal allograft has not been well studied in Indian population.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred and seventy-eight patients were evaluated retrospectively who underwent kidney transplantation from Jan 2008 to June 2011. Patients were divided into 6 groups: group A (donor age 20-40 years, recipient age <50 years), group B (donor age 20-40 years, recipient age >50 years), group C (donor age 40-60 years, recipient age <50 years), group D (donor age 40-60 years, recipient age >50 years), group E (donor age >60 years, recipient age <50 years) and group F (donor age >60 years, recipient age >50 years). Uni-variate analysis was used to assess the effect of donor and recipient age as predictive factors for graft outcome, using the Kaplan-Meier method (log-rank) with p < 0.05 considered significant.

Results: Graft survival was found to be lowest in elderly recipients and in patients with donor age >60 years. Renal function was superior using younger donors both in short and long term. The incidence of acute rejection was found to be lower in elderly donor group than in younger, although the difference was not statistically significant.

Conclusion: Donor's higher age did not show significant impact on allograft survival although, kidney allografts demonstrated decreased short and long term renal function.