The data base of the North American Pediatric Renal Transplant Cooperative Study (NAPRTCS) was used to examine the effect of primary diagnosis on the outcome of renal transplantation in children. The relative risk of graft failure for eight diagnostic groups was determined, with patients with congenital and structural anomalies of the urinary tract serving as the reference group. Covariate analysis was used to control for the effects of age, race and transfusion history in recipients of living-related donor kidneys, and for age, donor age, antilymphocyte prophylaxis, prior transplantation, prior dialysis and cold ischemia time in recipients of cadaver kidneys. In recipients of living-related donor kidneys, the lowest graft failure rates were associated with the diagnoses of cystinosis, familial nephritis and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), while the highest failure rates were observed in patients with a primary diagnosis of congenital nephrotic syndrome (CNS) or focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). In cadaver allograft recipients, the lowest graft failure rates were associated with primary diagnoses of glomerulonephritis, congenital/structural disease and cystinosis, while patients with FSGS, HUS and CNS had the highest graft failure rates, This study suggests that patients with a primary diagnosis of cystinosis have superior outcomes, while the diagnoses of FSGS and CNS carry with them the highest risks of graft failure.
