Kidney donation won’t cause long-term health woes: London-led study

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Donating a kidney does not lead to any negative long-term health problems, a just-published international study led by London researchers has found.

The research found that there was little difference in rates of high blood pressure, kidney function or other physical or mental health function between donors and healthy people after seven years.

The study was conducted by the Lawson Health Research Institute, the research wing of the London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care, and recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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“Donating a kidney has widely been considered safe in carefully selected candidates, acknowledging some inherent risks,” said Dr. Amit Garg, a scientist at Lawson and nephrologist at LHSC.

“While some smaller prior studies suggested a risk of high blood pressure, our team conducted a large international study that has found no difference in blood pressure nor long-term quality of life between living kidney donors and other healthy individuals.”

Included in the Canadian and Australian research groups were 1,042 living kidney donors and 396 non-donors at 17 transplant centres, who were recruited between 2004 and 2014 and followed for an average of seven years.

While current guidelines say it can take four to six weeks for donors to return to full kidney function after surgery, the study also suggests that recovery might instead take more than 12 weeks.

Researchers say they’re continuing to study data on outcomes on non-standard donors, psychosocial impacts on anonymous donors, genetic kidney disease in donors, and more.

“I wanted to participate in the study to help contribute to evidence about the long-term safety of living kidney donation,” Bob McRae said in a statement. He donated a kidney anonymously almost 15 years ago through the Canadian Blood Services donation program.

“I hope the results will encourage more people to consider becoming a living kidney donor.”

jmoulton@postmedia.com

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