Background: Obesity is a well known risk factor of cardiovascular events and
was proven to affect both patient and graft survival of kidney transplant
recipients. The aim of the study was to analyze the incidence of obesity and the outcomes of obese renal transplant recipients. Additionally, the awareness of
their body mass index (BMI) and obesity-related risks were evaluated.
Material/Methods: In the randomly selected 60 renal transplant recipients we conducted a survey with 26 questions addressed. We analyzed patients with regard to: demographics, immunosuppression, incidence of obesity hypertension, co-incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and quality of life. The data obtained from the questionnaire was compared to the patient's medical history and lab results. BMI and serum creatinine concentrations were compared 3-months after transplantation (point-T) and at the moment of survey (point-S).
Results: The time elapsed between T and S-points ranged from 1-20 years
(46% <5 y.; 44% 5-10 y.; 8% 10-15 y. and 2% 15-20 y.). Percentage of obese
and overweighed patients increased after transplantation. At the point-T,  obesity was found in 9%, overweight in 27% of recipients in comparison to 17% and 38% at point-S, respectively (p<0.05 for both comparisons). Serum creatinine between T and S-points, increased non-significantly in all patients regardless of BMI. Interestingly, DM type 2 was found in 9.6% of patients only with BMI=25-29.9. On the contrary, type 1 DM was observed in 3.9% of patients with BMI=19-24.9 and 5.7% with BMI=30-39.9. 98.2% of patients knew their body mass, however 61.8% of them cannot assess it with the use of BMI formula.
Conclusions: BMI over 25 was found to be associated with higher risk of DM. Unfortunately, majority of renal transplant recipients are not aware of their BMI. Therefore, authors proposed educational program dedicated to such population of patients.

Keywords: Kidney Transplantation, clinical outcome, Poland