Clinical and Health Care Utilization Outcomes of Kidney Transplantation in HIV-Positive Recipients: A Nationwide Analysis From 2008-2013

Background: Kidney transplantation (KTxp) provides dialysis independence, improved quality of life, and prolonged life expectancy for patients with end-stage renal disease. Before and during the early antiretroviral therapy era, KTxp was not a consideration for patients with end-stage renal disease who were HIV-positive (HIV+ve) given their short life expectancy and prevailing organ procurement constraints. Recent advancements in antiretroviral therapy and HIV care have overhauled this paradigm and KTxp has now been performed for several years, however, pragmatic studies documenting outcomes are lacking. We herein document the effectiveness of KTxp in patients who are HIV+ve by reporting clinical and health care utilization outcomes in the United States. Methods: Utilizing the Inpatient Databases of the Healthcare Cost & Utilization Project spanning 2008-2013, we identified all adult recipients of KTxp by procedural codes and recipients who are HIV+ve by ICD-9 codes. We extracted demographic, clinical, and resource utilization variables and compared recipients who are HIV+ve with those who are HIV-negative (HIV-ve). We then performed descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis using logistic regression to assess the effect of HIV on clinical and utilization outcomes. Results: A total of 104,137 patients had kidney transplants during the study period. Of the total, 605 patients were HIV+ve. Infections rates were similar among patients who were HIV+ve and HIV-ve (odds ratio [OR] 1.18, confidence interval [CI] 0.58–2.40; P =.652). In-hospital mortality rates were also similar (OR 0.83, CI 0.18–3.69; P =.80). Hospital charges for patients who were HIV+ve were no different from patients who were HIV-ve ($195,099 ± 1074 vs $186,567 ± 9558; P =.38). Conclusion: Clinical and fiscal outcomes are comparable among patients who are HIV+ve and HIV-ve during transplant hospitalization.