University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, PA 15261, USA. evansi@edc.pitt.edu
Authors
Belle SH, Detre KM, Evans IV, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Liver Transplantation Database Team, Penovich C, Ruppert K, Wei Y
Evans IV, Belle SH, Wei Y, Penovich C, Ruppert K, Detre KM, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Liver Transplantation Database Team. Post-transplantation growth among pediatric recipients of liver transplantation. Pediatr Transplant 2005 Aug;9(4):480-5.
Abstract
Improving a patient's quality-of-life (QOL) post-liver transplantation is of great importance. An aspect of improved QOL is the restoration of normal growth patterns in pediatric patients. To describe the post-transplantation growth patterns of 72 children included in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases - Liver Transplantation Database (NIDDK-LTD), multilevel models were used, according to which children who waited more than a year for transplantation were smaller, compared with age and sex matched peers, at transplantation than children who waited less than a year while children who were growth retarded at transplantation experienced a larger yearly comparison height increase than children who were not growth retarded. The analysis also showed that boys older than 2 yr and younger than 13 yr at transplantation and girls older than 2 yr and younger than 11 yr at transplantation were significantly less growth retarded at transplantation than boys and girls under the age of 2 yr at transplantation.