Introduction: The number of elderly patients with chronic kidney disease increases progressively, challenging the allocation algorithms in a scenario of organ shortage for transplantation.
Objective: To evaluate the impact of age on patient and graft survival.
Methods: Evolution of all 366 patients greater than 60 years transplanted between 1998 and 2010 was analyzed versus a control group of 366 younger patients matched for gender, type of donor (living or deceased) and year of transplantation.
Results: Diabetes mellitus (HR 1.8; IC 1.2-2.6; p = 0,003) and prioritization (HR 2.9; IC 1.2-2.6; p < 0,001), but not age, were independent factors for kidney graft loss.
Conclusion: Advanced age was not related to negative outcomes after kidney transplantation, after excluding recipient death as a cause of allograft loss. Higher mortality rate in this group was associated to a higher frequency of comorbidities, especially diabetes mellitus.