Is renal allograft dysfunction a risk factor for severe infection in kidney transplant recipients?

The ANTICIPE study is a cross-sectional, multicenter, French study. The aim of this study was to describe clinical and biological parameters observed in a cohort of 1446 stable renal transplant recipients, according to the stage of chronic kidney disease. Severe infection was defined as an infection necessitating ≥ 7 days of hospital stay. We observed a negative correlation between declining glomerular filtration rate and occurrence of severe infection (P < .0001). In multivariate analysis, severe infection was associated with age, female gender, chronic kidney disease stage (Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative classification), and number of acute rejection episodes. Our study suggested that renal allograft function is a predictor not only of cardiac death and cardiovascular complications, but also of severe infections.