Prognostic factors for lung transplant recipients focusing on age and gender: the Japanese lung transplantation report 2022

Purpose To clarify the impact of donor and recipient characteristics on the survival of recipients before and after lung transplantation in the Japanese population. Methods Patients’ data were collected for retrospective analysis from all authorized lung transplant centers in Japan. We included 1963 patients listed for lung transplantation by the end of December 2021, comprised of 658 deceased-donor and 270 living-donor lung transplants. Results Primary disease had a significant impact on the mortality of patients waiting for transplantation. The indications for transplant significantly affected the post-transplant survival rate of deceased-donor lung transplant recipients. The recipient’s age also significantly affected the post-transplant survival rate of the deceased-donor and living-donor lung transplant recipients. The recipients of grafts transplanted from donors aged 61 years or older showed a worse post-transplant survival rate (≧60 years old). The survival rate for the combination of a female donor to a male recipient among the deceased-donor lung transplant recipients was the worst among the four combinations. Conclusion The donor and recipient characteristics significantly impacted the survival of recipients after lung transplantation. The underlying mechanism of the negative impact of the gender mismatch of female donor to male recipient on post-transplant survival needs to be investigated further.