Pediatric kidney transplant practice patterns and outcome benchmarks, 1987-2010: A report of the North American Pediatric Renal Trials and Collaborative Studies

The NAPRTCS transplant registry has collected clinical information on children undergoing kidney transplantation since 1987 and now includes information on 11603 kidney transplants in 10632 patients. Since the first data analysis in 1989, NAPRTCS reports have documented marked improvements in outcome after kidney transplantation in addition to identifying factors associated with both favorable and poor outcomes. Patient demographics have changed over the course of the registry with a decrease in the percentage of white recipients from a high of 72% in 1987 to less than 43% in 2007. The percentage of living donors decreased to its lowest point in 2007 at 37%. Acute rejection rates continue to decline with improvements in short- and long-term graft survival. Recently, NAPRTCS data have been used as a source of benchmark data for pediatric kidney transplant centers.