Paternity in male kidney transplant recipients: a French national survey, the PATeRNAL study

There is concern about the impact of immunosuppressive agents taken by male kidney transplant (KT) recipients on the risk of foetal malformations. The aim of our survey was to estimate the paternity rate and the outcomes of pregnancies fathered by kidney transplanted males.

This survey analysed 1332 male KT recipients older than 18 years, followed in 13 centres in France. A self-reported questionnaire was used to collect data on the patients, treatments at the time of conception and the pregnancy outcomes.

The study included data on 349 children from 404 pregnancies fathered by 232 male KT recipients. The paternity rate was 17% (95% CI [15-20]). There were 37 (9%, 95% CI [7-12]) spontaneous abortions, 12 (3%, 95% CI [2-5]) therapeutic abortions, 2 (0.5%, 95% CI [0.1-1]) still births, and 13 (4%, 95% CI [2-6]) malformations reported. Compared to the general population, there was no difference in the proportion of congenital malformations nor unwanted outcomes whether the father was exposed or not to immunosuppressive agents.

This survey does not provide any warning signal that pregnancies fathered by male patients exposed to immunosuppressive agents, notably the debated MMF/MPA, have more complications than pregnancies in the general population.