Risk of development of the metabolic syndrome after orthotopic liver transplantation

Longer survival for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) patients over the last decade has focused emphasis on the metabolic complications that contribute to patient morbidity and mortality. The aim of our study was to analyze the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) and other risk factors after OLT among our patients at 1 year follow-up. From 2001 to 2008, we performed OLT in 210 patients with 62 exclusions leaving 148 patients for the study. We recorded age, gender, liver disease, smoking status, pre- and post-OLT body mass index, pre- and post-OLT arterial blood pressure, pre- and post-OLT fasting blood glucose, pre- and post-OLT high-density lipoproteins and triglycerides, family history of diabetes, hepatitis B and C virus status, immunosuppressive therapy, and corticosteroid bolus for rejection episodes. The MS was defined according to modified ATP III criteria. At month 12 after OLT, 29/148 patients (19.6%) developed the MS. The associated factors were obesity and hyperlipidemia pre-OLT, familial and personal history of diabetes as well as alcoholic cirrhosis. By multivariate analysis, pre-OLT body mass index (odds ratio, 3.7 [1.3-10.5]) and pre-OLT diabetes (odds ratio, 2.9 [1.1-7.9]) were independent risk factors.