A recent analysis of about 100,000 kidney donors found they had a small increased risk of developing end-stage renal disease compared to those who had not donated.
In the U.S. about 6,000 adults provide kidneys," a JAMA Network Journals news release reported.
"It is imperative that the transplant community, in due diligence to donors, understands the risk of donation to the fullest extent possible and communicates known risks to those considering donation," background information on the study said, the news release reported.
The team looked at the instances of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in 96,217 kidney donors and 20,024 participants of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III).
The team found the rate of ESRD 15 years after donation was at "30.8 per 10,000 in donors and 3.9 per 10,000 in healthy nondonors," the news release reported. The team found the highest rates of ESRD was among blacks, despite donor status. By the age of 80 the risk of ESRD was at "90 per 10,000 in donors [and] 14 per 10,000 in healthy nondonors," the news release reported.
"Compared with a matched cohort of healthy nondonors, kidney donors had an increased risk of ESRD; however, the magnitude of the absolute risk increase was small. These findings may help inform discussions with persons considering live kidney donation," the researchers said, the news release reported.
The researchers believe the study's findings "reaffirms" the belief that ESRD rates in live donors are not higher than the general U.S. population.
"It would be easy to misinterpret the findings of Muzaale et al as suggesting that kidney donation is a risky procedure. In reality, the authors have shown that the absolute risk of ESRD among living donors is extremely low; this is their key finding and does not imply the need to alter existing clinical practice," John S. Gill, M.D., of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and Marcello Tonelli, M.D., of the University of Alberta said in an accompanying editorial, the news release reported.
"It would be prudent for clinicians to emphasize the absolute risk of ESRD in discussions with prospective living donors, ideally using a decision aid that will facilitate the process of obtaining informed consent," they said.
