Valaciclovir prophylaxis of cytomegalovirus infection and disease in renal transplantation: an economic evaluation

Study sample The study included patients aged at least 13 years who had received a cadaveric renal transplant graft at the hospitals in the study. Since the development of CMV disease is related to the serostatus of both graft recipient and donor, two study strata were considered: the stratum of donor seropositive and recipient seronegative (D+R-), and the stratum of recipient seropositive (R+). Other studies have shown that the incidence of CMV is greater in the D+R group than in the R+ group. Ten patients (2 in the D+Rgroup and 8 in the R+ group) were classified as outliers, and were therefore excluded. The final study population comprised 616 patients: 208 patients in the D+Rgroup and 408 in the R+ group. In the D+Rgroup, 106 patients received the placebo and 102 the VP. In the R+ group, 204 patients received the