SACRAMENTO, Calif—Children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) often have the condition, called low serum albumin, as a result of inflammation or malnutrition, among other causes. The research found that low serum albumin is an independent risk factor for higher rates of morbidity and mortality among pediatric kidney transplant recipients, reported Medical Press.
Roughly one in 65,000 children develop end-stage renal disease (ESRD) each year, and kidney transplant is the primary method for treating the condition in the pediatric population. The research was conducted by Lavjay Butani, professor and chief of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology, and Daniel Tancredi, a biostatistician and assistant professor in the UC Davis School of Medicine.
"Even a single low serum albumin measurement at the time of listing the patient on a transplant registry is clearly a risk factor for graft failure in the future," Butani said. "Transplant centers should very carefully consider proceeding with the transplant in children with very low serum albumin, because of its association with a moderately higher risk of graft failure."
"The transplant team, including the family and the patient, should be very cautious," he added.
During the past 30 years, the numbers of children and adolescents with ESRD has grown dramatically, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 1980 there were 738 persons with kidney failure under 20 years old in the United States. In 2008, the number had grown to 7,216, a 1,000 percent increase, CDC data shows.
Butani said that prolonging graft survival is key, since longer graft survival translates into fewer patients needing re-transplants. This is a benefit that is underappreciated among non-transplant providers, and is paramount in helping reduce the ever-growing disparity between patients on the wait list and those receiving transplants, he said.
