Survival Benefit of Transplantation with a Deceased Diabetic Donor Kidney Compared with Remaining on the Waitlist

Background and objectives: Use of diabetic donor kidneys has been a necessary response to the donor organ shortage. Recipients of diabetic donor kidneys have higher mortality risk compared with recipients of nondiabetic donor kidneys. However, the survival benefit of transplantation with diabetic donor kidneys over remaining on the waitlist has not been previously evaluated.

Design, setting, participants, & measurements: We performed an observational cohort study of 437,619 kidney transplant candidates from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network database, including 8101 recipients of diabetic donor kidneys and 126,560 recipients of nondiabetic donor kidneys. We used time-varying Cox proportional hazards modeling to assess the mortality risk of accepting a diabetic donor kidney compared with remaining on the waitlist or receiving a nondiabetic donor kidney.

Results: Among transplant recipients, median follow-up was 8.9 years and mortality rate was 35 deaths per 1000 person-years. Recipients of diabetic donor kidneys had 9% lower mortality compared with remaining on the waitlist or transplantation with a nondiabetic donor kidney (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.84 to 0.98). Although recipients of nondiabetic donor kidneys with a Kidney Donor Profile Index score >85% had lower mortality risk (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.86; 95% confidence interval, 0.81 to 0.91), recipients of diabetic donor kidneys with an index score >85% did not show any difference (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.09; 95% confidence interval, 0.97 to 1.22). Patients aged <40 years attained no survival benefit from transplantation with diabetic donor kidneys; diabetic patients at centers with long waitlist times attained the greatest survival benefit.

Conclusions: Diabetic donor kidneys appear associated with higher mortality risk compared with nondiabetic donor kidneys, but offer greater survival benefit compared with remaining on the waitlist for many candidates. Patients with high risk of mortality on the waitlist at centers with long wait times appear to benefit most from transplantation with diabetic donor kidneys.