Influence of nutritional status in lung transplant recipients

To assess the influence of nutritional status on mortality in lung transplant (LT) recipients.

A total of 114 patients underwent lung-transplantation between January 1999 and June 2005. Mortality after lung transplantation was examined based upon body mass index (BMI) categories: BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2) (group I); BMI 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m(2) (group II, reference group); BMI 25 to 27.5 kg/m(2) (group III); and BMI > 27.5 kg/m(2) (group IV). Levels of serum albumin and serum prealbumin were determined before transplantation. We constructed a Cox proportional hazards model for overall survival considering mortality as the outcome. The final model was adjusted by age.

We analyzed 114 transplants in 112 patients. The population included 44 single and 70 bilateral LTs. Mean recipient age was 53.9 +/- 10.9 years. The hazard ratio of the risk of death in group IV was higher than in the reference group (hazard ratio: 3.55, 95% CI: 1.19 to 10.66; P = .024). Serum prealbumin

Pretransplant BMI > 27.5 kg/m(2) was a predictor of increased mortality after transplantation. Low pretransplant prealbumin levels in lung recipients were associated with mortality after transplantation.