Living Donor Kidney Transplant Recipients and Clinical Trials: Participation Profiles and Impact on Post-Transplant Care

This single-center study of adult first living donor kidney transplant recipients indicates that those who participated in clinical trials had increased intensity of post-transplant care but comparable outcomes to non-participants.

Many transplant physicians believe that transplant candidates who enroll in clinical trials may have better outcomes than those who do not enroll. We examined a 7-year cohort (1997–2003) of adult primary, non-HLA identical, living donor kidney transplant (LDKT) recipients to determine whether demographic characteristics predisposed to enrollment and whether participation affected posttransplant care intensity and/or allograft function. Overall, 146 of 512 (28.5%) LDKT recipients enrolled in clinical trials. LDKT recipients who were male and those who lived <100 miles from our transplant center were significantly more likely to participate. During the first post-transplant year, study patients (SPs) had more clinic visits (p < 0.0001) and more allograft biopsies (p = 0.024) compared to nonstudy patients (NSPs), but comparable numbers of hospital readmissions and allograft ultrasounds. SPs and NSPs did not differ in 1-year creatinine clearance, delta creatinine or rejection incidence. Overall graft and patient survival were comparable. We conclude that clinical trial participants were disproportionately male, had increased intensity of post-transplant care but comparable outcomes to nonparticipants.