Intercontinental comparison of patient cohorts: what can we learn from it?

摘要

Dawwas et al have published an impressive paper {see page 1606),' which compares 90-day mortality, mortality between 90 days and the first year, and long-term survival beyond the first year in patients after primary liver transplantation (LTx) performed in the United States (USA) with that performed in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland between 1994 and 2005. For their analysis they used the corresponding transplant databases, such as the Liver Transplant Audit and the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network/United Network-for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS), respectively. After careful modification, both databases were harmonised in order to perform an adequate statistical analysis.