Influence of Anemia Prior to Kidney Transplant in Early Graft Function

Background: Modifiable factors associated to better allograft function are relevant to de success of the kidney transplant. Anemia, complication associated to chronic kidney disease could influence in allograft function. Methods: Retrospective, cross-sectional study, included transplant kidney receptors of a single Mexican third level healthcare center performed in 2017-2019. Univariate logistic regression (odds ratios [OR], 95% CI) were used to evaluate allograft function associations, spearman correlation coefficient (SCC) was also performed to continuous variables. Results: A total of 97 participants were included (52% from living kidney donors), the median age was 33 (25-48), 61 (62.9%) were women and 51 (52.6%) were living kidney donors, mean hemoglobin (Hb) pre-transplant was 11.53 ± 2.18, median transferrin saturation (TS) was 28.2 (17-35). Anemia (Hb < 11 g/dl) prevalence was 77.3% and iron deficiency (TS <20 %) in 34%. Inmediate graft function (IGF) defined as serum creatinine decrease of at least 70% of preoperative value in the first week was recorded in 75 participants (77.3%), delayed graft function (DGF), defined by requirement of dialytic therapy in the first week after kidney transplantation, was identified in 11 participants (11.3%). The OR for IGF by anemia and iron deficiency were OR= 0.74, 95% CI, (0.28- 1.93) and OR=0.87, 95% IC, (0.32- 2.36) respectively. SCC between hemoglobin previous transplant and the glomerular filtration rate after 3 months was 0.13, p: 0.19. Conclusion: Anemia previous a kidney transplant doesn’t influence in the early kidney function. Kidney transplantation in living kidney donors shouldn’t be delayed by a specific hemoglobin target. Therapeutic interventions to increase hemoglobin previous kidney transplant in receptors of a cadaveric donor could be avoided.