Outcome of renal transplantation in ninety-seven cyclosporine-era patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and matched controls

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Abstract
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of renal transplantation in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods A total of 97 SLE patients who underwent renal transplantation between January 1984 and September 1996 were selected for study and were matched with a group of non‐SLE controls (1 control for each SLE patient) who also received transplants during that period. SLE patients and controls were matched on 6 covariates: age, sex, race, type of allograft (cadaveric versus living‐related), number of previous transplants, and year of transplantation. All study subjects received either cyclosporine or FK‐506/tacrolimus as part of their immunosuppressive regimen. In a rigorous medical records review, the status of each allograft and the cause of each graft loss was determined. Using a stratified Cox proportional hazards model, the transplantation outcomes of the SLE patients were compared with those of the controls. The effects of 9 individual variables on transplantation outcomes were also examined, and the statistically significant variables were compared in a stratified, multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Results The control group included patients with 20 different causes of end‐stage renal disease (ESRD). The mean followup times for the SLE patients and controls were 323 weeks and 320 weeks, respectively. During the followup period, 52 SLE patients and 37 controls lost their allografts. The 1‐, 2‐, 5‐, and 10‐year allograft survival probabilities for the 2 groups (SLE versus controls) were as follows: 81.7% versus 88.2% (1‐year); 74.7% versus 84.4% (2‐year); 45.9% versus 75.0% (5‐year); and 18.5% versus 34.8% (10‐year). In the multivariate model, the relative hazard of allograft loss associated with SLE as the cause of ESRD was 2.1 (95% confidence interval 1.06‐4.06, P = 0.0328). The total number of HLA mismatches, smoking status, and delayed allograft function were also associated with allograft loss in the multivariate model. Conclusion Compared with matched controls, renal transplant patients with SLE had inferior transplantation outcomes, with more than twice the risk of allograft loss.