For a study, the researchers sought to determine if shorter hospital stays after kidney transplantation were linked to higher health-care utilization in the first 90 days or better long-term graft and patient survival. Researchers looked back at data from a single center’s prospectively kept kidney transplant database from 2011 to 2015. A total of 1,001 patients received kidney transplants and were discharged in 3 groups: early [≤2 days] (19.8%), normal [3–7 days] (79.4%), and late [>7 days] (3.8%). Living donor transplants were performed in 34.8% of patients (early 51%, normal 31.4%, late 18.4%, P<0.001). The rates of delayed graft function were lower in early patients (Early 19.2%, Normal 32%, Late 73.7%, P=0.001). At 30 and 90 days, there were no differences in readmissions or emergency department visits between the hospital dismissal group and the control group. The rates of biopsy-proven acute rejection and glomerular filtration rate at 12 months were likewise comparable between groups. The risk-adjusted likelihood of readmission was not related to when a patient was discharged from the hospital. The transplant and patient survival rates were similar in early and normal patients. In both unadjusted and risk-adjusted models, late dismissal patients had significantly higher late mortality than normal dismissal patients, who had higher rates of cardiovascular problems. It was safe, possible, and beneficial to discharge patients from the hospital 2 days after a kidney transplant. It wasn’t linked to excessive healthcare use or poor short- and long-term transplant results.
