BACKGROUND:

The United Kingdom has a large South Asian population, in which there is a high rate of renal disease and which forms a significant percentage of the renal transplant waiting list. Information about short- and long-term transplant outcomes in this ethnic group is limited, although it has been suggested that graft survival is poorer in this population compared with non-Asians.

METHODS:

The authors examined the outcome and determinants of medium-term (5-year) survival in 245 renal transplants, 53 of which were performed in South Asian patients between 1995 and 2002.

RESULTS:

Three-year survival with a functioning graft was 89% for the non-Asians and 85% for the South Asians. At 5 years, this deviated to 83% and 70%, respectively, for the two groups, but this did not reach statistical significance. Acute rejection rates were similar in the two groups. South Asian ethnicity was not a significant predictor of medium-term graft loss in the authors' study.

CONCLUSIONS:

In this cohort of patients, South Asian ethnic background did not confer a survival disadvantage after renal transplantation.