THE QUALITY OF FUNCTION OF RENAL-ALLOGRAFTS IS ASSOCIATED WITH DONOR AGE

The quality of renal allograft function was assessed by prospective me asurement of creatinine clearance at 1 year (n = 197) and at 3 years ( n = 115) after cadaveric renal transplantation in a cohort of 268 pati ents treated with triple therapy immunosuppression. Donor age (P < 0.0 012) and recipient age (P < 0.01) were independently associated with c reatinine clearance both at 1 and at 3 years. In patients with donor a ge above 50 years and recipient age above 45 years, the mean creatinin e clearance was 32.7 (SD 10.4) ml/min (n = 27). When the donor age was below 30 years and recipient age below 45 years, the mean creatinine clearance was 55.6 (SD 14.4) ml/min (n = 47, P < 0.001). However, in t hese patients there was no significant association between graft funct ion and many of the factors known to influence graft survival, such as HLA matching, sensitisation of the recipient, and the occurrence of r ejection. In conclusion, the quality of renal allograft function decli ned with increasing donor and recipient age in our patients, whilst im munological factors were not significantly associated with function in surviving grafts.