Abstract
Background The proportion of lung transplant (LTx) recipients older than 70 years is increasing, thus we assessed long-term survival after LTx in this cohort relative to younger counterparts. Patients and methods We retrospectively reviewed charts of patients who underwent LTx between 2012 and 2016 at our center and divided patients by age: group A (<65 years), B (65-69 years), and C (>= 70 years). Survival statistics were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression. Results The study included 375 LTx recipients: 221 (58.9%) in group A, 109 (29.1%) in group B, and 45 (12.0%) in group C. Group C was mostly men (37/45 [82.2%]; P = 0.003) and had the highest mean serum creatinine at listing (P = 0.02). Survival at 1, 3, and 5 years after transplant in group A (93.2%, 70.1%, 58.8%) was significantly higher than group B (83.5%, 59.6%, 44.0%; P = 0.005, 0.028, 0.006, log-rank test) and was similar to group C (86.7%, 64.4%, 57.8%), although trended higher at 1 year (P = 0.139, 0.274, 0.489, log-rank test). Groups B and C had comparable survival at all time points. Conclusions Although survival decreased after age 65, long-term survival was comparable between LTx recipients aged 65-69 years and recipients >= 70 years.