Short stature is a risk factor for heart transplant morbidity and mortality.

Publication/Presentation Date

10-1-2023

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Short stature is associated with mortality after cardiac surgery and may increase size mismatch risk among transplant recipients. Yet, stature's impact on heart transplant outcomes is not well-characterized.

METHODS: The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients was queried for data on all adult heart transplants in the United States from 2000 to 2022. Recipients were stratified into five cohorts by sex-corrected stature. Morbidity was assessed with Kruskal-Wallis and chi-squared tests. Mortality was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier estimation. Risk factors for mortality were assessed with multivariable Cox regression.

RESULTS: Among 43,420 transplant recipients, 5321 (12.2%) had short stature (females >4'11″ & ≤5'1″; males >5'4″ & ≤5'7″) and 765 (1.8%) had very short stature (females ≤4'11″; males ≤5'4″). Very short stature patients had higher waitlist status (1A and 1), more congenital heart disease, and received more oversized donor hearts than other cohorts (all

CONCLUSIONS: Short stature confers increased mortality risk for heart transplant recipients and merits inclusion in prognostic models.

Volume

31

Issue

8

First Page

682

Last Page

690

ISSN

1816-5370

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

37661803

Department(s)

Department of Surgery

Document Type

Article

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