Effects of treatment of asymptomatic hyperuricemia on graft survival and mortality in kidney transplant recipients

Abstract

$\textbf{Background:}$ Hyperuricemia is very common after renal transplantation. It is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events and graft loss. To date, however, treatment is only recommended in symptomatic disease. $\textbf{Material/Methods:}$ We included 503 adult patients who underwent kidney transplantation at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin in this retrospective study. Patients were followed up for up to 120 months. All-cause mortality, graft survival, changes in level of serum uric acid (SUA), and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were analyzed. $\textbf{Results:}$ At 12 months post-transplantation, 225 patients had a serum uric acid (SUA) level >7 mg/dl: 52 patients were treated with allopurinol, 37 with benzbromarone, and 136 patients received no medication for hyperuricemia (control). At 12 months, eGFR did not differ between groups (p=0.15) but treated patients had higher SUA levels (p<0.001) compared to the control group. SUA-lowering treatment was associated with a lower risk of allcause mortality (p=0.013) and graft loss (p=0.014) compared to controls. At 120 months, patients in the treatment group had lower SUA levels (p=0.001) and higher eGFR (p<0.001) compared to the control group. $\textbf{Conclusions:}$ Treatment of asymptomatic hyperuricemia was associated with a substantial benefit in patient and graft survival