High Lung Transplant Center Volume Is Associated With Increased Survival in Hospitalized Patients

The lung allocation score (LAS) was designed to optimize the use of pulmonary allografts based on anticipated pretransplant survival and posttransplant outcome. Hospital admission status, not included in the LAS, has not been comprehensively investigated with regard to organ allocation. The objective of this study was to determine whether pretransplant hospital admission status was independently associated with posttransplant mortality and whether high center volume was associated with improved survival in that cohort.

All consecutive adult lung transplants provided by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients were retrospectively reviewed (from 2007 to 2017). Group stratification was performed based on admission status at the time of transplantation. A Cox proportional hazard regression was used to determine independent associations with posttransplant mortality.

During the study period, 3747 of 18,416 recipients (20%) were admitted to the hospital at the time of transplantation. Compared with nonadmitted recipients, LAS were significantly higher and waitlist times significantly shorter. Admitted recipients had higher rates of prolonged mechanical ventilation, higher rates of posttransplant dialysis, and longer posttransplant lengths of stay. Pretransplant admission to a low-volume center conferred significantly worse survival compared with nonadmitted patients, and high-volume centers were independently associated with improved survival compared with low-volume centers.

Hospital admission status is associated with increased posttransplant mortality independent of the LAS and the factors from which it is calculated. However, adjusted survival analysis demonstrates that admission to a high-volume center appears to be independently associated with improved survival compared with low-volume centers.