NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Even though patients are waiting longer to receive kidney transplants, those who do receive a transplant live longer than those who remain on dialysis, according to a presentation last weekend at the American Society of Nephrology's 37th Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in St. Louis.

"Kidneys are becoming an increasingly precious resource, so it's a realistic consideration to say you do not want to give a kidney to someone who is not going to benefit from it in terms of additional life years," presenter Dr. John S. Gill told Reuters Health. The issue is further complicated, he added, because older, sicker patients are now considered candidates for kidney transplants, he added.

Dr. Gill, of St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, and colleagues therefore analyzed data for approximately 60,000 patients on the U.S. Renal Data System waiting list from 1995 to 2000.

They found that although benefit from transplantation was attenuated slightly over time, there was still a survival advantage after wait times of up to 3 years.

For the entire cohort, patients gained 8 years if they had no wait time, which decreased to 7.5 years after 1 year, 7.2 years after 2 years, and 7.1 years after 3 years.

In fact, Dr. Gill said, "people who get transplants after a longer wait time actually derive a greater relative benefit from transplantation than patients who got a transplant with shorter waiting time," because survival time decreases rapidly while patients are maintained on dialysis.

"The crux is, there is no evidence that waiting up to 3 years negates the survival benefit," the investigator added. Even patients who were older or had diabetes or heart disease "still got a substantial benefit from transplantation."

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