Improved Survival with Renal Transplant in SLE Save

The Annals of Internal Medicine has published a cohort study of lupus nephritis (LN) patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), showing that renal transplantation is associated with improved survival benefit, with a reduction in death from cardiovascular (CV) disease and infection.

A nationwide cohort study analyzed the national database of nearly all patients with ESRD (United States Renal Data System) and looked at those with incident LN-ESRD who were waitlisted for a renal transplant.

Of the 9659 patients with wait-listed LN-ESRD, 5738 (59%) had a renal transplant.

Transplantation was associated with a reduction in:

• All-cause mortality (adjusted HR, 0.30 [95% CI, 0.27 to 0.33])
• CV death (adj. HR 0.26 [CI, 0.23 to 0.30]
• Death from coronary heart disease 0.30 (CI, 0.19 to 0.48) for ,
• Death from infection 0.41 (CI, 0.32 to 0.52)
• Death from Sepsis (aHR 0.41 (CI, 0.31 to 0.53) 

Renal transplant was associated with a significant survival benefit and highlights the benefit of timely referral for LN-ESRD patients needing transplantation.