Non-Traditional Non-Immunological Risk Factors for Kidney Allograft Loss—Opinion

Abstract

Rates of late allograft loss have improved slowly in the last decades. Well described traditional risk factors that influence allograft survival include cardiovascular events, rejection, infections and post-transplant neoplasia. Here, we critically evaluate the influence of several non-immunological, non-traditional risk factors and describe their impact on allograft survival and cardiovascular health of kidney transplant recipients. We assessed the following risk factors: arterial stiffness, persistent arteriovenous access, mineral bone disease, immunosuppressive drugs residual levels variability, hypomagnesemia, glomerular pathological alterations not included in Banff criteria, persistent inflammation and metabolic acidosis.