Background: Cancer is one of the most common complications after kidney transplantation and an important cause of mortality. However, no large, nationally representative study has investigated cancer incidence post-kidney transplantation. This study aimed to determine the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) for cancer after kidney transplantation using the National Database of Health Insurance Claims (NDB).
Methods: We used NDB from April 2013 to March 2022; patients were included if they had been on dialysis for at least one year, were diagnosed with cancer related to post-kidney transplantation, and were prescribed immunosuppressant drugs in FY2014 or FY2015. We defined patients with cancer as those who were coded as ICD-10 for cancer in FY2016 or later. The number of patients and SIRs were tabulated according to the duration after kidney transplantation and cancer type.
Results: The total number of patients was 4484 (males: 2879; females: 1605). The SIRs of all cancers from the first to the seventh year after kidney transplantation were 232/291/235/248/257/187/149, respectively, showing a gradual downward trend over time. The predilection sites of cancer in both men and women were post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, Kaposi sarcoma, and the kidney.
Conclusion: This observational study, which followed over 100 million people, is the first large-scale research to track kidney transplant recipients for under 10 years. It incorporates an unprecedented sample size and uniquely identified short-term cancer risk trends following kidney transplantation.
Keywords: Administrative claims database-NDB-national database; Kidney transplantation; Post-transplant cancer; Standardized incidence ratio.
© 2025. The Author(s).