Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Nephrol. Jun 25, 2025; 14(2): 101961
Published online Jun 25, 2025. doi: 10.5527/wjn.v14.i2.101961
Investigating the controversial link between pediatric obesity and graft survival in kidney transplantation
Brooke Stanicki, Dante A Puntiel, Benjamin Peticca, Nicolas Egan, Tomas M Prudencio, Samuel G Robinson, Sunil S Karhadkar
Brooke Stanicki, Dante A Puntiel, Benjamin Peticca, Nicolas Egan, Tomas M Prudencio, Samuel G Robinson, Sunil S Karhadkar, Department of Surgery, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA 19140, United States
Author contributions: Stanicki B and Puntiel DA led the study design, participated in data analysis, performed statistical analysis in conjunction with the Temple University Center for Biostatistics and Epidemiology and drafted and finalized the manuscript; Peticca B participated in design and oversight of the study and assisted with the data analysis; Egan Nicolas, Prudencio TM, and Robinson SG participated in data analysis and drafting the manuscript; Karhadkar SS participated in oversight of the study, drafted, and finalized the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study does not involve human subjects as defined by DHHS or FDA regulations. Consequently, there is no IRB. A Declaration of IRB exemption has been submitted.
Informed consent statement: This study does not involve human subjects as defined by DHHS or FDA regulations. Consequently, there are no informed consent forms.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors have any conflicts to disclose.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE statement – checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE statement – checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sunil S Karhadkar, FACS, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Temple University Hospital, 3401 N Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19140, United States. sunil.karhadkar@tuhs.temple.edu
Received: October 8, 2024
Revised: January 2, 2025
Accepted: February 8, 2025
Published online: June 25, 2025
Processing time: 188 Days and 15.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This study investigates the relationship between pediatric obesity and kidney transplant outcomes, addressing a gap in research by analyzing graft survival across body mass index categories. While short-term outcomes for overweight and Class 1 obese pediatric recipients are comparable to healthy-weight peers, Class 2 and 3 obese patients experience significantly reduced long-term graft survival. Underweight recipients also exhibit poorer outcomes, highlighting the dual risks of obesity and malnutrition. The findings highlight the need for individualized transplant criteria and targeted interventions for severely obese children, emphasizing the role of socioeconomic and racial disparities in pediatric kidney transplantation.