Prevalence of long-term cytopenia in kidney transplant patients: a cross-sectional study

Background Although cytopenia is common during the first few months following transplantation owing to induction and maintenance immunosuppressant, little is known about the prevalence of cytopenia in transplant patients beyond the first 6 months after transplantations. Thus, we conducted the present study to investigate the prevalence of chronic cytopenia in renal transplant recipients. Patients and methods This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out on 81 kidney transplant recipients in the renal transplant clinic at Sohag University Hospital during the period from February 2018 to February 2019. A nonprobability consecutive sampling technique was employed to recruit eligible patients. Results Regarding study outcomes, we found that 44.4% of our study group had anemia, 38.3% had normocytic anemia, and 6.2% had microcytic anemia. Regarding the degree of anemia, 17.3% of the patients had severe anemia, 17.3% had mild anemia, and 9.9% had moderate anemia. In addition, 3.7% of the study groups had leukopenia and 1.2% had leukocytosis. Regarding platelets, only one (1.2%) patient had thrombocytosis. Conclusion Chronic posttransplantation cytopenia is a common complication after kidney transplantation, especially anemia. Therefore, it is recommended that physicians involved in renal transplantation consider the investigation and follow-up of transplant recipients for posttransplantation cytopenia and adopt appropriate preventive and therapeutic measures. In addition, we recommend further studies on a larger number of patients, with focus on the link between posttransplantation cytopenia and mortality.