Does HIV/Hep C Infection Affect Kidney Transplant Outcomes?

Those infected with HIV have better outcomes following a kidney transplant compared to individuals living with hepatitis C, according to a recent study.

For the study, researchers evaluated data from 124,035 adults who underwent kidney transplants between 1996 and 2013.
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The study showed that 89% of patients with HIV had a 3-year survival rate, which was close to the 90% survival rate demonstrated among patients without HIV. For those with hepatitis C, researchers observed an 84% survival rate, and a 73% survival rate for individuals living with both hepatitis C and HIV (147 patients).

“HIV infection did not adversely affect recipient or allograft survival and was associated with superior outcomes compared with both HCV infection and HIV/HCV coinfection in this population,” the researchers concluded.

“Thus, pretransplant viral eradication and/or immediate posttransplant eradication should be studied as potential strategies to improve posttransplant outcomes in HCV–infected kidney recipients.”

The complete study is published in the March issue of Kidney International.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:

Sawinski D, Forde KA, Eddinger K, et al. Superior outcomes in HIV-positive kidney transplant patients compared with HCV-infected or IV/HCV-coinfected recipients. Kidney Int. 2015 March [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1038/ki.2015.74.