Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of heart transplant recipients stratified by allocation system pre- and post-October 2018.
| Allocation System | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | Old | New | p-value |
| (n=6,004) | (n=1,115) | ||
| Male sex | 4,319 (71.9%) | 776 (69.6%) | 0.120 |
| Sex mismatch | 852 (14.2%) | 133 (11.9%) | 0.050 |
| Age (median years, IQR) | 57 (47–64) | 56 (45–63) | 0.047 |
| BMI (median kg/m2, IQR) | 27.2 (23.840.0) | 26.3 (22.9–30.6) | <0.001 |
| Ethnicity | 0.320 | ||
| White | 3,859 (64.3%) | 730 (65.5%) | |
| Black | 1,314 (21.9%) | 218 (19.6%) | |
| Hispanic | 540 (9.0%) | 110 (9.9%) | |
| Other | 291 (4.8%) | 57 (5.1%) | |
| Recipient history | |||
| Diabetes | 1,691 (28.2%) | 274 (24.7%) | 0.018 |
| Malignancy | 570 (9.5%) | 95 (8.5%) | 0.332 |
| Cerebrovascular disease | 366 (6.1%) | 72 (6.5%) | 0.694 |
| Heart failure etiology | 0.003 | ||
| Ischemic | 1,694 (28.2%) | 268 (24.0%) | |
| Non-ischemic dilated | 3,319 (55.3%) | 629 (56.4%) | |
| Other | 991 (16.5%) | 218 (19.6%) | |
| Recipient creatinine (median mg/dL, IQR) | 1.2 (0.9–1.4) | 1.1 (0.9–1.4) | <0.001 |
| Recipient bilirubin (median mg/dL, IQR) | 0.7 (0.4–1.0) | 0.7 (0.5–1.1) | 0.007 |
| Pre-transplant status | <0.001 | ||
| Intensive care unit | 1,863 (31.0%) | 676 (61.7%) | |
| Hospitalized (non-ICU) | 964 (16.1%) | 146 (13.3%) | |
| Not hospitalized | 3,177 (52.9%) | 273 (24.9%) | |
| Medical therapy | |||
| IV antibiotics in two weeks before transplant | 500 (8.3%) | 116 (10.4%) | 0.027 |
| IV inotropes prior to transplant | 2,311 (38.5%) | 465 (41.7%) | 0.047 |
| Ventilator support prior to transplant | 53 (0.9%) | 39 (3.5%) | <0.001 |
| Durable LVAD support prior to transplant | 2,511 (41.8%) | 236 (21.2%) | <0.001 |
| Temporary MCS prior to transplant | 809 (13.5%) | 496 (44.5%) | <0.001 |
| IABP | 518 (8.6%) | 368 (33.0%) | <0.001 |
| ECMO | 91 (1.5%) | 72 (6.5%) | <0.001 |
| Temporary VAD | 115 (1.9%) | 66 (5.9%) | <0.001 |
| ABO blood type | 0.221 | ||
| A | 2,509 (41.8%) | 457 (41.0%) | |
| B | 936 (15.6%) | 194 (17.4%) | |
| AB | 379 (6.3%) | 81 (7.3%) | |
| O | 2,180 (36.3%) | 383 (34.3%) | |
| Days on waitlist (median days, IQR) | 68 (22–178) | 15 (6–44) | <0.001 |
| Waitlist status at transplant | - | ||
| Old 1A | 4,124 (68.7%) | - | |
| Old 1B | 1,708 (28.4%) | - | |
| Old 2 | 172 (2.9%) | - | |
| New 1 | - | 110 (9.9%) | |
| New 2 | - | 564 (50.6%) | |
| New 3 | - | 251 (22.5%) | |
| New 4 | - | 145 (13.0%) | |
| New 5 | - | - | |
| New 6 | - | 36 (3.2%) | |
| Graft ischemic time (median hours, IQR) | 3.0 (2.3–3.7) | 3.5 (2.8–4.0) | <0.001 |
| Ex vivo perfusion | 56 (0.9%) | 9 (0.8%) | 0.816 |
| Distance from donor hospital to transplant center (median miles, IQR) | 90 (14–284) | 296 (99–492) | <0.001 |
IQR, interquartile range; BMI, body mass index; ICU, intensive care unit; IV, intravenous; LVAD, left ventricular assist device; MCS, mechanical circulatory support; IABP, intra-aortic balloon pump; ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; VAD, ventricular assist device