In a recent article published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, Mehrotra and colleagues explore the epidemiology and outcomes of acute kidney injury (AKI) in kidney transplant recipients, focusing on AKI that is not due to acute rejection. They studied US Medicare patients who underwent their first transplant between 1995 and 2000, capturing AKI events though 2003 using ICD9 codes and graft and patient survival through 2007. AKI was fairly common, occurring in 11% of transplant recipients, and was associated with lower glomerular filtration rate at baseline, diabetes, shorter duration since transplant and longer time spent on dialysis, and several other demographic and transplant characteristics. Not surprisingly, AKI was associated with worse short-term and longer-term outcomes, with a 2 to 3-fold increase in all-cause graft loss, death with a functioning graft, and death-censored graft loss.

In our latest podcast on eAJKD, corresponding author Dr. John Gill of the University of British Columbia speaks about their study, discussing the implications of the study, including several of the strengths and limitations of their report, with Dr. Kellie Calderon, eAJKD advisory board member:

To download the MP3 file, click here.

To view the article abstract or full-text (subscription required), please visit AJKD.org.