Background: We previously identified factors associated with a greater risk of death post-transplant. The purpose of this study was to develop a clinical tool to estimate the risk of death after transplant based on pre-transplant variables.
Methods: We utilized the Canadian CF registry to develop a nomogram that incorporates pre-transplant clinical measures to assess post-lung transplant survival. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival estimates were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models.
Results: Between 1988 and 2012, 539 adult Canadians with CF received a lung transplant with 208 deaths in the study period. Four pre-transplant factors most predictive of poor post-transplant survival were older age at transplantation, infection with B. cepacia complex, low FEV1 percent predicted, and pancreatic sufficiency. A nonlinear relationship was found between risk of death and FEV1 percent predicted, age at transplant, and BMI. We constructed a risk calculator based on our model to estimate the 1-, 3-, and 5-year probability of survival after transplant which is available online.
Conclusions: Our risk calculator quantifies the risk of death associated with lung transplant using pre-transplant factors. This tool could aid clinicians and patients in the decision-making process and provide information regarding the timing of lung transplantation.
Keywords: cystic fibrosis; lung transplantation; nomogram; prediction model; survival; web-based application.
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.