Low-dose aspirin therapy is associated with improved allograft function and prolonged allograft survival after kidney transplantation

Aspirin treatment has an undoubted beneficial impact on the progression of cardiovascular diseases. We hypothesized that aspirin also protects allograft function and survival in the context of chronic renal allograft dysfunction, which displays decisive pathophysiologic features that are similar to those involved in atherogenesis. A retrospective, multivariate analysis was performed to assess the effect of low-dose aspirin treatment (100 mg/day) on allograft function and survival of 830 renal transplant recipients. Allograft function was evaluated by serum creatinine levels, urine protein levels, and the presence of hematuria. Median allograft survival time was significantly longer in patients receiving low-dose aspirin therapy compared with patients receiving no aspirin treatment (n=205, 13.8 +/- 2.6 vs. 7.8 +/- 0.3 years, n=625; adjusted relative risk=0.443, 95% confidence interval [0.323-0.608], P