A large study of the long-term effects of kidney donation finds that kidney donors can expect to live full, healthy lives in most cases. The retrospective analysis reported in today’s New England Journal of Medicine concludes that people who donate one of their two kidneys have a long term survival rate similar to non-donors and do not face increased risk of kidney failure.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota examined data from nearly 3,700 people who had donated a kidney at the university since 1963. They tracked down as many surviving donors as they could and used government records in an attempt to determine who had died. They randomly selected 255 donors to undergo tests of kidney function.

The results showed that the survival of kidney donors was similar to that of the general population when matched for age, sex, and race or ethnic group. Kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplant developed in 11 donors, which translates to a rate of 180 cases per million people per year. This is actually lower than the rate in the general population of 268 per million per year. The researchers noted that most donors who were studied enjoyed an excellent quality of life.

One of the main reasons for the good outcome for donors may have been the strict criteria in place for kidney donation. Donors had to be in good health and free of high blood pressure and diabetes, two of the main contributing factors for kidney disease. There are no official regulations regarding living kidney donation but most transplant centers adhere to similar criteria.

A scientist not involved in the study notes the donors were mostly young and mainly white. It remains to be seen whether the safety of living kidney donation holds for older, non-white donors. The University of Minnesota is part of an ongoing study that will examine a larger and more diverse donor group.

Most people are born with two kidneys, which function to eliminate waste from the body in form of urine. If someone’s kidneys fail the only options for survival are dialysis or a transplant. More than 78,000 people are currently on the national waiting list to receive a kidney from a deceased donor. Due in part to new surgical techniques that have shortened recovery times, living kidney donation has become more common in recent years. Lving donors must be tissue matched to recipients in order to be able to donate a kidney.

To find out more about living kidney donation, visit the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Web site or the National Kidney Foundation Web site.

If you want to learn more about kidney failure, join the Healia Health Community and Support Group for Kidney Failure. For information about type 2 diabetes, see the Healia Health Community for Diabetes Type 2 or read the Healia Health Guide on Diabetes Type 2.

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