TUESDAY, Aug. 20, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Rates of pregnancy following kidney transplant have remained steady, but Hispanic women are more likely to become pregnant in the three years following transplant than white women, according to a study published online Aug. 9 in PLOS ONE.
Silvi Shah, M.D., from the University of Cincinnati, and colleagues used data from the United States Renal Data System (2005 through 2011) to identify 7,966 women who were aged 15 to 45 years and received a kidney transplant, with Medicare as the primary payer for the entire three years after the date of transplantation.
The researchers identified 293 pregnancies among the women with kidney transplants (unadjusted pregnancy rate, 13.8 per thousand person-years [PTPY]). Pregnancy rates remained consistent from 2005 to 2011 except in 2005 and 2010. For Hispanic women, the pregnancy rate was highest (21.4 PTPY), and Hispanic women had a higher likelihood of pregnancy versus white women (odds ratio [OR], 1.56). Women aged 30 to 34 years and 35 to 45 years at transplant had the lowest pregnancy rates, and women in these age groups at transplant were less likely to ever become pregnant during follow-up (ORs, 0.69 and 0.14, respectively) compared with women aged 25 to 29 years at the time of transplant. Pregnancy was more likely in transplant recipients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) due to cystic disease (OR, 2.42) or glomerulonephritis (OR, 2.14) versus women with ESKD due to diabetes.
“Since pregnancy is not uncommon in kidney transplant recipients, it further becomes important to examine the racial differences and factors associated with pregnancy in this high-risk population,” Shah said in a statement.
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