Kidney donors enjoy long-term good health

Minnesota, January 29: In the surprising and reassuring results of a study, it has been established that donating a kidney may not affect the normal life of the donor nor does it pose any risk of developing kidney failure.

According to the findings of the University of Minnesota published in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, kidney donors can look forward to enjoy normal and healthy life as their non-donor counterparts. The new study puts to rest a whole lot of misconceptions and the fears attached with so-called increased risk to the life of kidney donors.

The study is an endeavor to provide reassurance to potential donors that the process does not involve any increased risk to their health. It hopes to encourage more and more people towards more organ donations, especially amid increased need for such transplants. According to an estimate, there are nearly 78,000 people who are in the dire need for a kidney transplant.

“Our study indicates that kidney donors have a normal life span, a health status that is similar to that of the general population, and an excellent quality of life,” the researchers added.

“I'm hoping that this will alleviate the anxiety about living with one kidney,” said Dr. Hassan Ibrahim, a university transplant surgeon and the lead author. “We can remove a lot of misconceptions.”

One of the kidney donors, Donna Boisen of Coon Rapids, Minnesota, said she did not think twice when she donated one of her two kidneys to her ailing sister last year. “I do know I had a lot of people say to me, 'Well, gee, I just don't know if I could do that,” she said.

Dr. Ibrahim and his colleagues followed 3,700 kidney donors who had donated kidneys between 1963 and 2007 at the university’s transplant center. They concluded that the donors’ life spans and the risk for any diseases including high blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney disease was the same or even better than their non-donor counterparts of similar age, race and gender.

According to Dr. Bryan Becker, surgeon at the University of Wisconsin and president of the National Kidney Foundation, the results give a reassurance about the long-term health consequences to the kidney donors who donate a kidney to their family member, friend or even stranger.

He stated that transplant surgeons “can give them confidence that their own health will not be compromised.”

The researchers found that donors’ quality-of-life was better than population’s norms because of regular health screenings. “These outcomes may be a direct consequence of the routine screening of donors for important health conditions related to kidney disease at the time of donation,” the researchers said.

Ensuring kidney donors of good health in long term, Dr. Ibrahim said, “And I'm hoping people who do have any anxiety regarding kidney donation at least look at these results and discuss kidney donation with the health care professionals who are involved in this process so they can get more accurate information.”

There is an alarming increase in the number of kidney failure cases, especially, among the elderly, with growing epidemics of obesity, diabetes and other chronic conditions.