Rates of renal transplantations in the elderly—data from Europe and the US

The demography in most part of the world is changing with an increasing proportion of elderly persons. This is expected to reflect demography of patients accepted for renal replacement therapy both in the form of dialysis and transplantation. Based on this, the intention of the present review is to collect and describe available data on rates of transplantation with focus on the elderly patients in both Europe and the US. Data were collected from available sources including activity reports from national and supranational registries on uremia, organ procurement, waiting lists, and transplantations. Since 1990 both absolute numbers and proportions of elderly patients starting renal replacement therapy have increased dramatically in both Europe and the US. Although the pattern of changes is similar in Europe and the US, the incidence and prevalence rates for renal replacement therapy in the elderly are 3–4 times higher in the US. In the same period, the rates of renal transplantations in the elderly patient group have increased in both Europe and the US with increased access to the waiting list and to transplantation. Data from the United States Renal Data System on incidence of transplantation document a substantial increase in proportion of elderly transplant recipients (65 + years) from 4.2% in 1990 to 17.2% in 2012 and an increase in proportion of prevalent elderly renal transplant patients from 3.8% in 1992 to 23.3% in 2012. Similar changes have been seen in Europe. Due to these alterations in the demography of the transplant patients in both Europe and the US it is concluded that the elderly transplant patient from being a rare patient has now become a common patient necessitating increased focus on this group in order to optimize treatment results.