Background:

Despite the use of prevention strategies, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most common viral complication after renal transplant and its impact on long-term outcomes is still open to debate.

Objective:

To evaluate the incidence of CMV infection and disease during the use of prevention strategies in our centre and to analyse the association between CMV infection and long-term patient and graft survival and other potentially clinical events related with CMV.

Methods:

We reviewed the medical records of 377 recipients of kidney transplants performed between January 1998 and December 2008. Kaplain-Meier survival curve analysis was performed to analyse graft and patient survival by CMV infection/disease and Cox proportional hazards regression was used to identify factors associated with CMV infection/disease, graft loss and mortality.

Results:

The incidence of CMV infection was 34.7% and CMV disease was 9.5%. Patient and graft survival was significantly lower in patients with CMV infection/disease. CMV infection/disease was associated with a higher risk of graft loss (HR 1.91, 95% CI 1.09-3.36, p = 0.023), but not with a higher mortality (HR 1.29, 95% CI 0.7-2.38, p = 0.4).

Conclusion:

CMV replication after renal transplant is a risk factor for long-term graft loss but not mortality. Prevention strategies decrease post-transplant CMV infection and disease.