The Prevalence of Neurological Complication after Renal Transplantation

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence of neurological complications (NCs) after renal transplantation by meta-analysis. METHODS: A broad literature search in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane-Library was performed from inception to December 31, 2021, to collect published studies on the incidence of NCs after kidney transplantation. The R language meta-package was used to organize and analyze the data. RESULTS: 17 articles including 1,1119 participants were considered eligible. There were 3 studies that recorded unclassified NCs (249 participants), 6 that recorded nervous system CMV infection (1489 participants), 3 that recorded headache (243 participants), and 5 that recorded cerebrovascular events (9138 participants). There was significant heterogeneity (all I(2) ≥ 75%) in all analyses, and random-effects models were selected. Meta-analysis results showed that the incidence of unclassified NCs was 0.29 (95% CI (0.16–0.48)), the incidence of nervous system CMV infection was 0.38 (95% CI (0.26–0.52)), the incidence of headache was 0.55 (95% CI (0.44–0.66)), and the incidence of stroke was 0.05 (95% CI (0.02–0.09)). Egger's test showed that there was no conspicuous publication bias in the included literature in each group. CONCLUSIONS: Headache had the highest incidence (55%) in the nervous system after KT, followed by nervous system CMV infection (38%) and stroke (5%). Nevertheless, due to the inconsistencies in the types of NCs included and the follow-up time, our results might only serve as an epidemiological reference for the specific incidence differences.