The Risks of Living Kidney Donation

Only candidates with an apparent low risk of kidney disease are accepted as living kidney donors. Postdonation studies that extend up to 12 years have shown rates of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among donors that are similar to those observed in the general population, which suggests minimal risk from the inevitable reduction in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) that occurs at donor nephrectomy.1 However, a recent 7.6-year study in the United States showed that the incidence of ESRD was 8 times as high among donors as among well-selected nondonor controls.2 A similar 15.2-year study in Norway showed that the risk . . .