Study examines ethnic and gender differences in ESRD risk after living kidney donation

Published on: Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Members of the OPTN Minority Affairs Committee and UNOS Research Department staff authored a study published in the August 2011 issue of the American Journal of Transplantation, examining the relative risk of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among prior living kidney donors by the donors' ethnicity and gender.

Utilizing data both from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the researchers identified 126 cases of ESRD among nearly 56,500 people who became living kidney donors between October 1987 and March 2003.

While the risk of developing ESRD was very low among living kidney donors, the relative risk was higher for African-American donors compared with Caucasians and males compared with females. However, the ethnic and gender-related differences in post-donation ESRD found in this analysis were similar to those previously reported for ESRD in the general population. In addition, of those living donors who developed ESRD, half did so within approximately 10 years of their donation.

The researchers recommend that transplant practitioners use these findings to counsel potential living donors. The researchers also emphasize the need for more comprehensive data collection to further assess the risk of ESRD or other long-term complications among living donors.

NOTE: This study was supported by Health Resources and Services Administration contract 234-2005-370011C. The content is the responsibility of the authors alone and does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services.

For more detailed information, please consult the article: W.S. Cherikh, C.J. Young, B.F. Kramer, S.E. Taranto, H.B. Randall and P.Y. Fan. Ethnic and Gender Related Differences in the Risk of End-Stage Renal Disease after Living Kidney Donation. American Journal of Transplantation, Vol. 11, Issue 8, August 2011, pp. 1650-1655.