Impact of Recipient and Donor Obesity Match on the Outcomes of Liver Transplantation: All Matches Are Not Perfect

There is a paucity of literature examining recipient-donor obesity matching on liver transplantation outcomes. The United Network for Organ Sharing database was queried for first-time recipients of liver transplant whose age was ≥18 between January 2003 and September 2013. Outcomes including patient and graft survival at 30 days, 1 year, and 5 years and overall, liver retransplantation, and length of stay were compared between nonobese recipients receiving a graft from nonobese donors and obese recipient-obese donor, obese recipient-nonobese donor, and nonobese recipient-obese donor pairs. 51,556 LT recipients were identified, including 34,217 (66%) nonobese and 17,339 (34%) obese recipients. The proportions of patients receiving an allograft from an obese donor were 24% and 29%, respectively, among nonobese and obese recipients. Graft loss (HR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.09–1.46; p = 0.002) and mortality (HR: 1.38; 95% CI: 1.16–1.65; p < 0.001) at 30 days were increased in the obese recipient-obese donor pair. However, 1-year graft (HR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.74–0.93; p = 0.002) and patient (HR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.74–0.95; p = 0.007) survival and overall patient (HR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.86–1.00; p = 0.042) survival were favorable. There is evidence of recipient and donor obesity disadvantage early, but survival curves demonstrate improved long-term outcomes. It is important to consider obesity in the donor-recipient match.