Pretransplantation Risk Factors Associated With New-onset Diabetes After Living-donor Kidney Transplantation

•New-onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation (NODAT) is a troublesome complication with the increased length of follow-up.•As the largest center of living-donor kidney transplantation in China, we have observed that many recipients had suffered from NODAT, which prompted us to determine the pretransplantation risk factors for NODAT.•The results of our research may help other transplantation surgeons identify and manage high-risk recipients.

Mid-term date of kidney recipients with new-onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation (NODAT) was poor. We made a retrospective study of 397 patients who had living-donor kidney transplantation between January 2007 and May 2010 in our center. Pretransplantation risk factors for NODAT were identified by univariate and multivariate analyses. The mean follow-up was 53.5 ± 10.4 months. The prevalence of NODAT was 9.3%. Univariate analyses found the mean recipient age ≥40 years, body mass index (BMI) ≥24 kg/m2, family history of diabetes, fasting blood glucose (FBG) ≥5.6 mmol/L, 2-hour plasma glucose ≥7.8 mmol/L, and tacrolimus were risk factors for NODAT. In logistic regression, BMI ≥24 kg/m2 (odds ratio [OR]: 4.14, confidence interval [CI]: 2.02 ∼ 8.49, P < .001), family history of diabetes (OR: 2.62, CI: 1.09 ∼ 6.34, P = .032), and FBG ≥5.6 mmol/L (OR: 3.21, CI: 1.52 ∼ 6.79, P = .002) were independent risk factors. In conclusion, the mid-term prevalence of NODAT in Chinese renal recipients was low (9.3%). Pretransplantation independent risk factors were BMI ≥24 kg/m2, family history of diabetes, and FBG ≥5.6 mmol/L; thus identifying which factors might help to prevent NODAT.