Cytomegalovirus Serostatus and Functional Impairment in Liver Transplant Recipients in the Current Era

Whether donor (D+) or recipient (R+) cytomegalovirus (CMV) seropositivity is associated with functional impairment in liver transplant recipients is not known.

Patients included adult liver transplant recipients in the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network database transplanted over a five-year period from 1 January 2014-31 December 2018. Functional status in the database was assessed using Karnofsky performance scale. A logistic regression model that controlled for potential confounders was used to examine the association of CMV serostatus and functional status. Variables significantly associated with functional status (p < 0.05) were then used to develop propensity score and propensity score matched analysis was conducted where each patient was compared with a matched-control with the same propensity score.

Among 30,267 adult liver transplant recipients, D+ or R+ patients had significantly lower functional status at last follow-up than the D-R- cohort (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.80-0.96, p = 0.007). In propensity score matched model, D+ or R+ patients had significantly lower functional status than matched-controls (p = 0.009). D+ or R+ CMV serostatus (p = 0.018) and low functional level (p < 0.001) were also independently associated with infections as cause-of-death.

D+ or R+ liver transplant recipients had lower functional status and higher risk of deaths due to infections. Future studies are warranted to examine the mechanistic basis of these findings in the setting of transplantation.