RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Survival after lung transplantation (LTx) for patients with occupational lung disease (OLD) is not well studied. METHODS: The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database was queried from 2005 to 2013 to assess survival after LTx in patients with silicosis and non-silicotic OLD compared to non-OLD patients. RESULTS: Of 7273 adult LTx recipients, 7227 (24 with silicosis and 29 with non-silicotic OLD) were included in our univariate and Kaplan-Meier function analysis and 6370 for multivariate Cox models. Univariate Cox models did not identify survival differences in silicosis (HR 0.717; 95 % CI 0.358-1.435; p = 0.347) and non-silicotic OLDs (HR 0.934; 95 % CI 0.486-1.798; p = 0.839). Kaplan-Meier function analysis did not identify a survival disadvantage for either silicosis or non-silicotic OLD (log-rank test: χ (2) 0.93, p = 0.627). Patients with non-silicotic OLD were at risk for worse survival for the first 2.5 years post-transplant; however, at the conclusion of the study, this group had the highest survival rate. Multivariate Cox models confirmed no increased risk for mortality for silicosis (HR 1.264; 95 % CI 0.631-2.534; p = 0.509) and non-silicotic OLD (HR 1.114; 95 % CI 0.578-2.147; p = 0.747). CONCLUSION: Long-term survival for adult patients with silicosis and non-silicotic OLD after LTx is not significantly different compared to the general lung transplant population.