Background: Medication non-adherence is a risk factor for acute kidney transplant rejection. The association of non-adherence with short-term allograft loss in patients who develop acute rejection and are subsequently treated with maximal therapy is unknown.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective single center cohort study of adult patients who developed acute rejection from January 2003 to December 2017 and were treated with lymphocyte depletion. Clinicopathologic characteristics including adherence status were collected and descriptive statistics utilized to compare groups. The primary outcome was all-cause graft loss at 6 months after acute rejection treatment. A multivariable logistic regression quantified the association of non-adherence with the outcome.
Results: A total of 182 patients were included in the cohort, of whom 71 (39%) were non-adherent. Compared to adherent patients, non-adherent patients were younger (mean age 37y vs 42y), more likely to be female (51% vs 35%) and developed acute rejection later (median 2.3y vs 0.5y from transplant). There were no differences in estimated glomerular filtration rate or need for dialysis on presentation, Banff grade, or presence of antibody mediated rejection between the 2 groups. Overall, 48 (26%) patients lost their grafts at 6 months after acute rejection treatment. In adjusted analysis, non-adherence was associated with all-cause graft loss at 6 months after acute rejection treatment [OR 2.64 (95% CI 1.23-5.65, p = 0.012].
Conclusions: After adjusting for common confounders, non-adherent patients were at increased risk for short-term allograft loss after a severe acute rejection despite lymphocyte depletion. This finding may aid clinicians in risk stratifying patients for poor short-term outcomes and treatment futility.
Keywords: Acute rejection; Graft loss; Kidney transplantation; Non-adherence.