Abstract 4139724: Heart Transplant in Geriatric Population from 2000 to 2023: UNOS Database Study

Background: Advancements in heart transplant has expanded boundaries to greater range of patients to receive transplant. Despite concerns of increased morbidity and mortality, data from previous studies showed selected patients 70 years or older who underwent heart transplant had similar morbidity and mortality compared to younger patients. With growing population age and increase in technology, transplant candidacy is expanded to selected robust geriatric patients. Objective(s): Determine change in the number of transplant cases and the percent from total yearly cardiac transplant in geriatric population Method: Heart transplant recipients of all ages from 2000 to 2023 were identified in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database and stratified into different age groups. Primary outcomes of interest included number of heart transplant cases and percentage from total yearly transplant. Results: In total, we identified 66,079 heart transplant recipients from 2000 to 2023. Among these patients, 9,964 (12.40%) were patients aged 65 above and 28,554 (45.50%) were 50-64 years old (figure 1A). There was an overall increase in the number of heart transplants from 2000 to 2023, 2,199 to 4,545 cases per year, respectively. There was an increase in the number of heart transplants in the geriatric population from 216 to 841 (figure 1B). From 2000 to 2013, there was an increase in the percent of transplant recipients in patients 65 years and older from 9.80% to 17.60%, after which remained stable (figure 1C). There was a relative decrease in proportion of patients 50-64 years from 2000 to 2014, from 51.10% to 42.80%, respectively. The number of cardiac transplants among 50-64 year old group from 2000 to 2008 decreased from 1,123 to 920 then increased again by 2014. Conclusion: There has been a significant increase in the total number of heart transplants from 2000 to 2023. Currently, heart transplants in geriatric population consist of a significant portion of total heart transplants close to 1 of 5 transplants that occur per year (18% to 19%). This number has grown from 9.80% (2000) to 18.50% (2023) among all heart transplants per year.