Dyslipidaemia among renal transplant recipients: cyclosporine versus tacrolimus

Objectives: To compare new onset dyslipidaemia in live-related renal transplant recipients taking cyclosporine versus tacrolimus after 3 months of therapy. Methods: The randomised controlled trial was conducted at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) Karachi, from September 2010 to April 2011, and included 182 End Stage Renal Disease patients on maintenance haemodialysis with pre-transplant normal lipid profile. The patients, who had live-related renal transplant, were randomly allocated to two equal groups using lottery. Group A received cyclosporine (3mg/kg) and group B was treated with tacrolimus (0.1mg/kg). All patients had pre-transplant fasting lipid profile checked when they were on maintenance haemodialysis and 3 months after renal transplantation. Serum fasting lipid profile was collected by taking 5ml blood by venipuncture after an overnight fast of 9-12 hours. SPSS 10 was used for statistical analyses. Results: Of the 182 patients, 144(79.1%) were males and 38(20.9%) were females. The overall mean age was 30.18 +/- 9.57 years, and the mean weight was 54.41 +/- 11.144kg. Significant difference was not observed between the two groups regarding age and weight of the patients. Dyslipidaemia was found in 115(63.2%) subjects; 61(67%) in group A and 54(59.3%) in group B. There was no statistical difference (p=0.28) when comparison was done after 3 months of therapy. Conclusions: The occurrence of new onset hyperlipidaemia is similar in renal transplant recipients receiving either cyclosporine or tacrolimus in first 3 months post-transplant, but there is room for more research in this field as dyslipidaemia following successful renal transplantation is a frequent and persistent complication.