#2271 Cardiovascular event prediction in kidney transplant recipients: a new risk score derivation and internal validation
Authors: Bussalino Elisabetta , Picciotto Daniela , Russo Elisa , Macciò Lucia , Russo Rodolfo , Parodi Angelica , Gandolfo Maria Teresa , Esposito Pasquale , Viazzi Francesca 
Published: May 2024

Background and Aims

Kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) have a cardiovascular (CV) risk 3 to 5-fold higher than that of the general population.CV disease represents the main cause of death in KTRs, both due to the presence of traditional risk factors and factors strictly related to transplant. The main CV risk calculators proved to be poorly predictive in the KTR population. We, therefore, aimed to compare the performance of CV risk scores already in use and to develop and validate a CV risk score in our KTRs population.

Method

Our analysis included 371 adult KTRs in follow-up at the outpatient clinic from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016. The composite outcome was the occurrence of MACE. We compared the performance of three main CV risk calculators (Framingham Risk Score-FRS-, INDANA score and PORT score). Thereafter, we built a predictive model selecting study variables by backward stepwise Cox regression. The risk score for each variable was weighted according to the HR of the final multivariable model. Internal and external validation of the prediction score and its discriminative capacity was assessed via area under the curve (AUC) curve, and the calibration via the Hosmer–Lemeshow test.

Results

After a mean follow-up of 68 months, CV events occurred in 71 (19%) KTRs. FRS, INDANA and PORT were demonstrated to have low predictive power in our population (Fig. 1). The accuracy did not improve after adjustment for immunological and transplant-related variables.

Therefore, we derived a model including significative variables at multivariate analysis: age, dialysis vintage, systolic blood pressure, eGFR and 24-hour proteinuria (Akaike information criteria 713). The model discrimination was good (Harrel's c: 0.73). According to the hazard ratio, 3 points have been attributed to age higher than 60 years and 24 h proteinuria higher than 1 g/d, 2 points to dialysis vintage longer than 5 years, systolic blood pressure higher than 140 mmHg and eGFR less than 30 ml/min/1.73 m2. The new score demonstrated good discrimination (AUC 0.70, Fig. 2) and calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow test 11.34, P = 0.12). The new score was internally validated by 10-fold cross-validation (mean AUC 0.70, 95% CI 0.60-0.77). For each point of the new score, the risk of the event increased by 40% and a score higher than three was associated with a 4-fold increased risk of composite endpoint.

Conclusion

We confirmed the poor predictive power of the known CV risk assessment tools in our real-world KTRs population. Moreover, their discriminatory power was not improved by adjustment for the occurrence of biopsy-proven rejection, HLA compatibility and donor-specific antibody.

A new score for CV event prediction including traditional risk factors, such as age and systolic blood pressure, and variables related to renal function and the effects of previous chronic kidney disease, was developed and internally validated.