Introduction: The Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT) is a test of balance, mobility and functional capacity. Longer times on the TUGT are associated with higher rates of post-operative complications and increased mortality at 1 year after colorectal and cardiac surgery. The utility of TUGT for risk stratification of potential kidney transplant recipients is unknown.

Methods: Between January 2013 and November 2014, 738 patients aged 18 years or older at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) were evaluated for listing for kidney transplantation and had a TUGT performed. Four hundred and thirty two (58.5%) patients have completed their work up and were waitlisted but 306 patients are yet to complete their evaluation in order to be waitlisted. Our outcome of interest was waitlisting. TUGT times were also converted into tertiles (5-8 seconds, 8.3-10s, ≥10.6s)

Results: Patients who were waitlisted were not significantly older (55.0±13.5 vs. 54.2±13.5 yrs, p=0.55), but were more likely to be male (60.9 vs. 58.6%, p<0.001), Caucasian (37.1% vs. 32.2%, p<0.0001) and had lower TUGT times (9.7±2.6 vs. 10.4±3.7s, p=0.001). Age was significantly correlated with a patient's TUGT score (r=0.24, p<0.001). Patients with higher TUGT times were less likely to be waitlisted (OR=0.92) even after adjusting for patient age. The likelihood of wait listing decreased significantly with increasing TUGT tertiles (OR=0.73 and OR=0.63 for the middle and the highest tertiles respectively).

Conclusion: Longer TUGT times measured at the time of initial kidney transplant evaluation appear to identify patients at risk of not completing their transplant work up for waitlisting. Further study is needed to understand this relationship and whether longer TUGT times predict post-operative outcomes following renal transplantation.

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