The impact of employment status on recipient and renal allograft survival

: Background: With the improved median survival of kidney transplant recipients, there has been an increased focus on quality of life after transplantation. Employment is a widely recognized component of quality of life. To date, no study has demonstrated a link between post‐transplant employment status and recipient and allograft survival after transplant. Methods: The records from the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) and the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) from January 1, 1995, through December 31, 2002, were examined in this retrospective study. Two outcomes, allograft survival time (time between the transplantation and allograft failure or censor) and recipient survival time (time between the transplantation and recipient death or censor), were analyzed using Cox models adjusted for potential confounding factors. Results: Compared to patients working full time at the time of transplantation, those not working by choice have a greater risk to graft [hazard ratio (HR) 1.27, p