Pre‐existing diabetes is a risk factor for increased rates of cellular rejection after kidney transplantation: an observational cohort study

Aim To investigate whether people with diabetes have an elevated risk of kidney allograft rejection in a well characterized clinical cohort in the setting of contemporary immunosuppression. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study including all kidney allograft recipients at a single centre between 2007 and 2015, linking clinical, biochemical and histopathological data from electronic patient records. Results Data were analysed for 1140 kidney transplant recipients. The median follow‐up was 4.4 years post‐transplantation, and 117 of the kidney transplant recipients (10.2%) had diabetes at time of transplantation. Kidney allograft recipients with vs without diabetes were older (53 vs 45 years; P