Wiley Periodicals Inc. C © 2008 The Authors Journal compilation C © 2008 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons doi: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2008.02320.x Should Pediatric Patients Wait for HLA-DR-Matched Renal

Graft survival rates from deceased donors aged 35 years or less among all primary pediatric kidney transplant recipients in the United States between 1996 and 2004 were retrospectively examined to de-termine the effect of HLA-DR mismatches on graft survival. Zero HLA-DR-mismatched kidneys had sta-tistically comparable 5-year graft survival (71%), to 1-DR-mismatched kidneys (69%) and 2-DR-mismatched kidneys (71%). When compared to donors less than 35 years of age, the relative rate of allograft failure was 1.32 (p = 0.0326) for donor age greater than or equal to age 35. There was no statistical increase in the odds of developing a panel-reactive antibody (PRA) greater than 30 % at the time of secondwaitlisting, based upon the degree of HLA-A,-B or-DR mismatch of the firs