Hocker B, et al. - Given the significance of pre-transplantation vaccination in preventing a significant amount of morbidity and mortality in paediatric renal allograft recipients, researchers performed a multi-centre, multi-national, retrospective study investigating the vaccination coverage before transplantation of European children with end-stage renal disease. In the light of incomplete vaccination coverage noted in the population studied, paediatric nephrologists, together with primary-care staff and patients’ families, were recommended to make every effort to improve vaccination rates before kidney transplantation.

• Researchers carried out a multi-centre, multi-national, retrospective study, within the framework of the Cooperative European Paediatric Renal Transplant Initiative (CERTAIN), to investigate the vaccination coverage before transplantation of 254 European children with end-stage renal disease (mean age 10.0 ± 5.6 years).

• Findings demonstrated that only 22 out of 254 patients (8.7%) presented complete vaccination coverage.
• Researchers found that, specifically, the respective vaccination coverage against human papillomavirus (27.3%), pneumococci (42.0%), and meningococci (47.9%) was low.
• During the first 3 years post-transplant, numerically less lower respiratory tract infections were detected in patients with complete pneumococcal vaccination coverage, as compared with children without vaccination or with an incomplete status (16.4% vs 27.7%, p=0.081).
• In unvaccinated vs in vaccinated patients, vaccine-preventable diseases post-transplant were 4.0 times more frequently reported.
• Non-Caucasian ethnicity (OR 9.21, p=0.004), chronic dialysis treatment before transplantation (OR 6.18, p=0.001), and older age at transplantation (OR 1.33, p < 0.001) were shown to be associated with an incomplete vaccination coverage.