Adherence in Adolescent and Young Adult Kidney Transplant Recipients

Prevalence and Modifiable Factors for Holistic Non-Adherence in Renal Transplant Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction

In renal transplant recipients, compliance with medical therapy is vital. Non-adherence is considered a risk factor for worst outcomes in kidney recipients, with attributed outcomes of 64% for graft loss and 80% for late acute rejection. Most literature defines adherence as self-based immunosuppression compliance but does not consider other relevant factors such as consult and procedure compliance. Therefore, this study aims to describe adherence prevalence in kidney transplant recipients and the factors related to non-adherence.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 1030 renal transplant patients followed by Colombiana de Trasplantes between January 2019 and July 2021. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were obtained based on clinical records. The mental-health group diagnosed holistic adherence in a semi-structured interview. The diagnosis considered medication intake failure, frequency and number of failures to medical controls or other procedures, suspicious non-adherence behaviors, and serum levels of immunosuppressants. A bivariate followed a descriptive analysis, and a forward logistic regression was performed for non-adherence.

Results

Patients had a median of 47 years, and 58.1% were male. Non-adherence was presented in 30.7% of patients. The non-adherence patients were younger, with a higher prevalence of males, single, divided transplant care, had a longer time after transplantation, psychopathological diagnosis, and more reinforcement education by only nursing. Older age and multidisciplinary reinforcement education were protective factors. On the other hand, poor social support, psychopathology diagnosis, and longer time after transplant presented as non-adherence risk factors.

Conclusion

Holistic non-adherence was diagnosed in approximately one-third of renal transplant recipients. Its definition included more than just medication non-compliance and could identify more non-adherent patients. Notably, there is a need to consider the related factors in the health follow-up and encourage future research in modifiable factor interventions aiming to increase adherence and achieve better outcomes for renal transplant patients.

The impact of diabetes on young transplant recipients: An American perspective

Despite advancements in diabetic care, diabetic kidney transplant recipients have significantly worse outcomes than non-diabetics.

AIM

Our study aims to demonstrate the impact of diabetes, types I and II, on American young adults (18-40 years old) requiring kidney transplantation.

METHODS

Using the United Network for Organ Sharing database, we conducted a population cohort study that included all first-time, kidney-only transplant recipients during 2002-2019, ages 18-40 years old. Patients were grouped according to indication for transplant. Primary outcomes were cumulative all-cause mortality and death-censored graft failure. Death-censored graft failure and patient survival at 1, 5, and 10 years were calculated via the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate Cox regression was used to assess for potential confounders.

RESULTS

Of 42 466 transplant recipients, 3418 (8.1%) had end-stage kidney disease associated with diabetes. At each time-point, cumulative mortality was higher in diabetics compared to patients with non-diabetic causes of renal failure. Conversely, cumulative graft failure was similar between the groups. Adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause mortality and graft failure in diabetics were 2.99 (95% CI 2.67-3.35; p < .01) and 0.98 (95% CI 0.92-1.05, p < .01), respectively.

CONCLUSION

Diabetes mellitus in young adult kidney transplant recipients is associated with a nearly three-fold increase in mortality, reflecting a relatively vulnerable patient population. Identifying the underlying causes of poor outcomes in this population should be a priority for future study.

Age and sex determine conversion from immediate-release to extended-release tacrolimus in a multi-center cohort of Canadian pediatric renal transplant recipients

ER-Tac, taken once per day, is associated with improved adherence. This study examined the potential patient and clinical factors that influence clinicians to convert pediatric patients from immediate-release to ER-Tac. This prospective multi-center observational study followed Canadian pediatric kidney transplant recipients up to 5 years post-transplant. Cox Proportional Hazards Regression was used to examine the influence of factors on conversion to ER-Tac. Sixty-six participants were included in this analysis. For every additional year of age at the time of transplant, the likelihood of conversion was more than doubled (HR 2.54, CI 1.83, 3.54, P < 0.001). The impact of age reduced by three percent for every month after transplant (HR 0.97, CI 0.95, 0.98, P < 0.001). Girls were more likely to be converted than boys (HR 3.78, CI 1.35, 10.6, P 0.01). Adherence measures (MAM-MM and tacrolimus trough variability), individual barriers to adherence, renal function, HLA mismatch, and rejection were not significant predictors of conversion in the final regression model. ER-Tac was preferentially prescribed to older age and female patients. Female sex and adolescence are both associated with worse graft outcomes, but we found no link between individualized markers of adherence/graft risk and conversion. Clinicians appeared to be using demographic features to distinguish patients at perceived higher risk and converted accordingly, without a case-by-case evaluation of who is more susceptible to poor outcomes.