Chronic Kidney Disease Risk in Living Kidney Transplant Donors: A Long-Term Follow-Up Study

Living kidney donors (LKD) may experience some untoward consequences following donation such as development of chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this study, we aimed to investigate the rate of development of CKD and factors affecting the development of CKD in LKDs during long-term follow-up from a center in Turkey.

This study was a retrospective analysis of LKDs followed between January 2000 and December 2017. Pre-transplant and post-transplant clinical data of the 338 LKDs were recorded and compared. Factors affecting the development of stage 3 and later stages of CKD were analyzed.

Majority of the donors were females (64.2%), and the median age of all donors was 47 (39-54) years. Stage 3 CKD developed in 50 donors during the median follow-up of 71 months. Older age at the time of transplantation and a low pre-transplant estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were determined as the factors affecting the development of stage 3 CKD (p < 0.001, p < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that the cut-off age for the development of stage 3 CKD was 50.5 years. Newly diagnosed hypertension was detected in 57 patients (16.8%) after the transplantation. While hypertension was seen at a rate of 42% in those with an eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, it was detected at 19.4% in the group with an eGFR >60 mL/min/1.73 m2 (p < 0.001).

These results reveal that being a LKD is associated with the development of CKD and hypertension. Age and eGFR values at the time of transplantation were the determinants for the development of CKD.