Partners in Crime: Kidney Transplantation and Seizure Disorder

Abstract

Seizure disorder is a common neurologic complication of kidney transplantation and often presents as a complex management challenge. Little is known about the risks mutually conferred by the 2 clinical entities and the effects of such risks on clinical outcomes. Using the National Inpatient Sample, our goal was to examine the effects of kidney transplantation and seizure disorder on mortality, hospitalization statistics, clinical complications, and cost of care. A history of kidney transplantation was shown to negatively affect the care of seizure disorder, and a history of seizure disorder also negatively affected the clinical outcomes of kidney transplantation. Our findings are important for initiating discussions and prompting future studies to further examine disease-specific risks of kidney transplantation.