Infection and Malignancy Outweigh Cardiovascular Mortality in Kidney Transplant Recipients: Post Hoc Analysis of the FAVORIT Trial

These results demonstrate that infection (but not malignancy) risks are far higher in diabetic than nondiabetic immunosuppressed individuals (although noncardiovascular death rate in nondiabetic individuals also exceeded cardiovascular deaths) and may play a larger role in the excess mortality populations than previously thought. Given that follow-up in this study was 4 to 10 years after allograft surgery, there was a lesser degree of acute rejection requiring high-dose immunosuppression than in the initial postallograft years. This unique perspective allows transplant recipients to return to primary physicians when taking low doses of immunosuppressive agents and provides focus for follow-up care.