Donating a kidney probably won't affect your health in the long term

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-05-24 01:00

Australia; International; WA

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Canadian and Australian scientists say kidney donors' health returns to normal following donation and there appear to be no major negative health effects of living with just a single kidney for more than seven years following donation. They followed the health of 924 kidney donors and compared them with 396 people who hadn't donated a kidney. There was a dip in kidney function in donors following the procedure, but this returned to normal levels, and some loss of physical function reported by donors had also returned to normal within three months. Following the participants for an average of 7.3 years, they found no difference in blood pressure, albuminuria (a sign of kidney disease), depression and anxiety, and health-related quality of life. Donors did report a higher incidence of tinnitus (ringing in the ears), but the scientists say this is unlikely to be related to donating a kidney. Future research should follow patients for longer periods to confirm the findings hold true as donors age, the authors say.

Media release

From: JAMA

Hypertension and Kidney Function After Living Kidney Donation

About The Study: In this cohort study of living kidney donors and nondonors with the same follow-up schedule, the risks of hypertension and albuminuria were not significantly different. After the initial drop in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) from nephrectomy, donors had a slower mean rate of eGFR decline than nondonors but were more likely to have an eGFR between 30 and 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 at least once in follow-up.

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Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Western Australia, Victoria Hospital, Canada

Funder: The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) provided operating grant support. Astellas Canada and Novartis provided partnership funding for the CIHR-funded grant.

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