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Increased Mortality Risk

William D. Hillis, MD; Argye Hillis, PhD; W. Gordon Walker, MD

JAMA. 1979;242(4):329-332.

Abstract
To determine effects of circulating hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) on patient survival following renal transplantation, we studied 168 recipients of cadaveric grafts in whom HBsAg status was defined at transplantation by comparison of survivorships determined by actuarial life-table methods. Survival in HBsAg-positive recipients, as compared with those who were HBsAg-negative at the time of transplantation, was markedly diminished. Although graft survival appeared to be favored in the HBsAg-positive group in the early posttransplant period, the apparent protective effect was lost at nine months after grafting and thereafter, due to increased mortality in the HBsAg-positive recipients. Deaths in the antigenemic subjects were principally due to infections other than hepatitis and to cardiovascular events. We conclude that preexisting HBs antigenemia forebodes an ominous outcome for immunosuppressed renal transplant recipients, although hepatic disorders do not account for most deaths.

(JAMA 242:329-332, 1979)

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Medicine (Drs W. Hillis and Walker), Pathobiology (Drs A. Hillis and W. Hillis), and Ophthalmology (Dr A. Hillis), The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 600 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 (Dr W. Hillis).

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