Clinical

Life expectancy longer for female liver allograft recipients than male recipients

Last Updated: 2006-09-27 19:01:22 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who receive a liver transplant can expect to live about 4.5 years longer than their male counterparts, according to a report in the September 28th online issue of Gut.

While several studies have looked at patient and graft survival following liver transplantation, few have investigated life expectancy and the loss of life relative to the general population, Dr. J. Neuberger, from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK, and colleagues note.

The findings are based on an analysis of data for 2702 subjects who had survived more than 6 months after receiving a liver transplant between 1985 and 2003.

The median life expectancy of female recipients was 26.8 years compared with 18.3 years for males, the findings indicate. Compared with the general population, this corresponds to 9.3 and 4.3 years of lost life for males and females, respectively.

The highest life expectancy-28.8 years-was noted in recipients between 17 and 34 years of age, but they also had the highest number of life years lost relative to the general population - 22.4 years.

"We have discovered that liver allograft recipients find the prognostic information provided by this study of great practical help," the investigators conclude.

Gut 2006.