Risk of malignancy in kidney transplant recipients: a nationwide population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: Post-transplant malignancy is major morbidity complicated in kidney transplantation (KT). In Korea, a few studies have investigated the sex- and age-dependent risk for post-transplant malignancy among KT recipients on a large scale. METHODS: We utilized a national health insurance database in Korea to investigate the relative risk of post-transplant malignancy in 12,634 KT recipients between 2007 and 2017. The same number of patients with acute appendicitis was included as a control group. The relative risk of malignancy was estimated using a multivariable-adjusted Cox model, and interaction analysis was performed to investigate age- and sex-predominant patterns. RESULTS: KT recipients had an overall 1.8-fold higher risk for post-transplant malignancy with an increased risk for 14 of 29 cancer types, among which Kaposi’s sarcoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, kidney, uterus, and bladder/urinary tract cancers were most prominent. Although the overall risk for post-transplant malignancy was similar between male and female KT recipients, head and neck cancer had a higher risk among male KT recipients, whereas non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and bladder/urinary tract cancer had a higher risk among female KT recipients. Overall, the young (< 50 years) KT recipients had a higher risk for post-transplant malignancy than older ones (≥ 50 years), whose pattern was most prominent in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In contrast, breast and nonmelanoma skin cancer showed a higher risk among older KT recipients. CONCLUSION: KT recipients had an increased risk for a wide range of cancer types, some of which showed differential risk patterns with age and sex. Our result suggests that focused screening for predominant post-transplant malignancies may be an effective strategy for selected KT recipients. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12882-022-02796-6.