With increasing long-term graft survival and life-long immunosuppression, cardiovascular disease and infectious complications are major causes of morbidity and mortality. We retrospectively evaluated 1200 consecutive kidney transplant patients at Shiraz Organ Transplant Center from December 1988 to December 2003. Data on demographic profile, donor source, blood pressure, rejection episodes, cause of death, and hematological and biochemical serum profiles were collected to compare alive and dead recipients. One hundred fifty six patients (13%) died in the post transplant period. Patient death was more prominent during the first years after transplantation. Most common causes of death were cardiovascular (28.3%), graft loss (20.7%), and infection (19.6%). Post transplant systolic and diastolic blood pressures, BUN, creatinine, fasting blood sugar, and total cholesterol were higher, and serum HDL lower in the dead recipients than those who remained alive (P< 0.05). No significant difference was found in LDL, hemoglobin, and triglyceride values between the two groups. The one- and three-year patient survival rates were 94% and 91.5%, respectively. We conclude that the patients who died after transplantation had more risk factors than stable patients who remain alive. A multidisciplinary approach to control the co-morbid factors could be beneficial to decrease the mortality of patients after renal transplantation.