Pregnancy in renal transplant recipients: Long-term effect on patient and graft survival. A single-center experience

Background. There are limited data on the effect of pregnancy on long-term renal allograft function. The aim of the study was to compare long-term graft and patient outcome between pregnant and nonpregnant women after renal transplantation. Methods. The study group consisted of 39 women attending the Perinatal Division of the Rabin Medical Center who conceived after undergoing renal transplantation (total number of live births: 55). All had a functioning allograft at the time of conception. Each patient was matched with 3 controls for 12 factors known to affect graft survival. The controls were derived from a cohort of 250,000 transplant patients registered in the Collaborative Transplantation Study (CTS) database. The groups were compared for graft survival, long-term patient survival, and kidney function (CTS clinical grading scale). Results. Graft (61.6%) and patient (84.8%) survival from transplantation to the end of follow-up (15 years) in the women who conceived after transplantation did not differ from the rates observed in the 177 women in the matched control group (68.7% and 78.8%, respectively). There were no between-group differences in long-term graft function. Conclusion. Pregnancy does not appear to have adverse effects on long-term graft or patient survival or kidney function in women after renal transplantation.