Kidney Donors Show No Long-Term Health Consequences

A study at the University of Minnesota indicated that persons who gave one of their kidneys lived a normal life span and were as healthy as those in the general population. The four-decade study of 3,700 donors is the largest, longest study to examine long-term outcomes. Having one kidney did not raise the risk of kidney failure later in life. Rates of kidney failure were found to be even lower in donors than in the general population.

Findings were published in the January issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. A transplant surgeon from the University Maryland, not involved in the research, greeted the news with enthusiasm. He called this study “a confirmation that living donation is a safe thing.”



Most former donors tested in this study showed good kidney function and enjoyed an excellent quality of life. Researchers attributed their good, long-term outcomes to the rigorous screening criteria originally used to pick donors. Those who elected to give a kidney were required to be healthy and have no kidney problems, high blood pressure or diabetes. The last two factors are main causes of kidney disease.

Kidneys filter waste and excess fluid from blood. Patients with kidney failure have only two options:  dialysis or a kidney transplant. The national waiting list is long, with more than 78,000 waiting for a donor with the right matching characteristics. Today, with the rising incidence of obesity and diabetes, the need for donor kidneys has climbed dramatically.


Researchers recognize the sacrifice made by kidney donors. Their generosity of spirit will not go unrewarded if at some time in the future the kidney donor needs a transplant. Those individuals would be given priority on the waiting list.

Study donors were primarily white and younger than the donors of decades later. Results found in this group may not apply to populations donating a kidney today. The main value of this reassuring study is its large size and duration.
 Living donation has increased in recent years as more people have become willing donors and newer surgical techniques have shortened recovery time. In 2007, nearly 17,000 kidneys transplanted in the U.S. came from living donors.

Source:  original article by Stephanie Nano, Associated Press; San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune on January 29, 2009. (blog article by Anna Dabney)

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