Pancreatic steatosis is an independent risk factor for post‐transplant diabetes mellitus in kidney transplant patients

Abstract

AbstractBackground and AimPost‐transplant diabetes mellitus (PTDM) is associated with an increased risk of post‐transplant cardiovascular diseases, and several risk factors of PTDM have been shown in the literature. Yet, the relationship between hepatic and pancreatic steatosis with post‐transplant diabetes mellitus remains vague. We aimed to evaluate pancreatic steatosis, a novel component of metabolic syndrome, and hepatic steatosis association with post‐transplant diabetes mellitus in a single‐center retrospective cohort study conducted on kidney transplant recipients.MethodWe have performed a single‐center retrospective cohort study involving all kidney transplant recipients. We have utilized pretransplant Fibrosis‐4, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease fibrosis score, and abdominal computed tomography for the assessment of visceral steatosis status.ResultsWe have included 373 kidney transplant recipients with a mean follow‐up period of 32 months in our final analysis. Post‐transplant diabetes mellitus risk is associated with older age (p < .001), higher body‐mass index (p < .001), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease‐fibrosis score (p = .002), hepatic (p < .001) or pancreatic (p < .001) steatosis on imaging and higher pre‐transplant serum triglyceride (p = .003) and glucose levels (p = .001) after multivariate analysis.ConclusionOur study illustrates that recipients’ pancreatic steatosis is an independent predictive factor for post‐transplant diabetes mellitus including in kidney transplant patients.