Incidence and timing of infections after liver transplant in Italy

Infections are one of the main complications that cause high morbidity and mortality in transplant recipients. This study sought to estimate the incidence of infections and their main determinants in liver transplant recipients in the first year after transplantation.

A prospective study was conducted on 103 consecutive patients (72% men) who underwent transplantation in three centers in Northern (Bologna) and Central (Rome) Italy in 2005. Person-years (PY) at risk, incidence rates (IR), IR ratios and 95% confidence intervals were computed for viral, fungal, and bacterial infections.

The 103 patients (median age 55 years) contributed a total of 78.2 PYs, with a median follow-up of 286 days (interquartile range: 194 to 365 days). Fifty-eight patients (56.3%) experienced one or more infections, namely, 151 events (IR = 193.2 infections/100 PYs). IR for bacterial, fungal, and viral infections were 110.0, 56.3, and 26.9 infections/100 Pys, respectively. Within the first 30 days after transplantation, 37.9% patients (39/103) developed one or more events. Bacterial infections represented the most frequent event (86/151, 57.0%). Risk factors significantly associated with increased IR were gender (female), age (>50 years), prolonged intensive care stay volume of blood transfused during surgery and posttransplant, and need for retransplantation.

These preliminary results showed the relevance of infectious events after liver transplantation especially those of bacterial etiology, and identified factors mainly associated with their occurrence.