Live Kidney Donor Study

Overview

Kidney transplants from living donors now account for 40% of all the kidney transplants done in the United States. However, the current information on how donating a kidney can affect the donor's long term health needs further investigation. The purpose of this study is to collect data on a large number of live kidney donors and create and analyze a comprehensive database. Information about the number of living kidney donors, including those who have experienced kidney failure, heart problems, and death will be gathered for the database. Investigators will then use the database to identify the risks of kidney failure, associated conditions, and death after living donation. The database will also be used to identify characteristics that put donors at higher risk for health problems after donation.

Kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment to dialysis for most people with kidney failure. However, the current waiting time to receive a kidney from a deceased donor is greater than 5 years in some parts of the United States. Kidneys from living donors have increased the number of kidneys available for transplantation and decreased the waiting period for those needing a transplant. Living kidney donation also provides several advantages over deceased donor kidneys, including more timely transplantation and longer function of the transplanted kidney. Despite these facts, there is inadequate information about whether living kidney donation may have serious adverse effects on the donor's health. Long-term data on the health risks of living donation are needed. The purpose of this study is to establish and analyze a database of information on living donors who have or are going to donate a kidney at three transplant centers with longstanding live kidney donation programs through June 2011. Donor and recipient characteristics as well as specific data on kidney failure, heart disease, and death will be collected. National databases such as the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, the Social Security Death Master File, the National Death Index and records maintained by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) will be used to supplement data provided by the participating transplant centers. After establishing the database, researchers expect to 1) determine the long-term risk of live kidney donation and 2) identify donor characteristics associated with higher risk for health problems after donation. Death, cause of death, and incidence of ESRD will be compared to those rates reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the U.S. population during the same time period. There will be no study visits for this study. Investigators will gather data from the medical charts of all live kidney donors from the three transplant centers through June 2011.