Risk factors of metabolic syndrome after liver transplantation

BACKGROUND: Liver transplantation is a treatment of choice for both acute and chronic liver failure. Accompanied with the increase of long-term survival rates of recipients, metabolic syndrome and its individual components, including obesity, hyperglycemia, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, have become more frequent post liver transplantation. Here we reviewed the literature concerning the risk factors for the development of metabolic complications in liver recipients. DATA SOURCES: PubMed was searched for English-language articles published from January 2000 to June 2015. The search criteria focused on risk factors for metabolic syndrome after liver transplantation. RESULT: The risk factors of metabolic syndrome in liver recipients include older age, obesity, pre-transplantation diabetes mellitus, hepatitis C virus infection, certain genetic polymorphisms and the use of immunosuppressive drugs. CONCLUSION: Active intervention of the risk factors will reduce the occurrence rate of metabolic syndrome after liver transplantation and improve the recipients' quality of life.