Clinical Presentation of Diabetes Mellitus after Kidney Tansplantation

You, Sun Jin; Chung, Sungjin; Hong, Sangmo; Hong, Taeck Won; Lee, Chang Hwa; Kim, Gheun Ho; Kang, Chong Myung

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Incidence rate of diabetes mellitus (DM) after renal transplantation has been reported variably, ranging from 2.5% to 45%. The new diagnostic criterion of diabetes presented by American Diabetes Association and use of new immunosuppressants may increase the incidence of post-transplant DM. METHODS: We investigated the incidence of post- transplant DM in 135 patients, who underwent kidney transplantation at Hanyang University Hospital between March, 1998 and February, 2003. The association of risk factors (age, sex, types of immunosuppressive agents, presence of acute rejection, and relationship with donor) with post-transplant DM was retrospectively evaluated using multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The incidence of post-transplant DM was 19.3%, and the significant risk factors were age over 40 years and male sex. Presence of acute rejection and relationship between donor and recipient were not significantly associated with the occurrence of post-transplant DM. Notably, the frequencies of post-transplant DM between cyclosporine and low- dose tacrolimus were not significantly different. CONCLUSION: The incidence of post-transplant DM is higher than that of DM in general population. Blood glucose should be frequently monitored in older male patients, considering their significant risk for post-transplant DM. Low-dose tacrolimus regimen dose not seem to increase the risk for post-transplant DM compared with cyclosporine.