What are the risks for Living Kidney Donors?

There are risks to being a living kidney donor. Besides the surgical risks of removing a kidney (also known as nephrectomy), there may be some special long-term health risks. Studies have been done to determine what these are for someone planning to donate their kidney. It is important to know your personal risk before you donate your kidney.

Three online donor risk calculators are discussed. You can enter your specific personal data into the calculator and it will estimate your risk. The first two use the same data to be entered but are found on two separate websites and only provide risk before donation. The third one from the University of Minnesota provides risk information after donation.

Risk Calculators

If you are considering living kidney donation, enter your personal data into each of these calculators. You may need to go to your health care provider to get all of the numbers that need to be entered. Clicking on the title will take you to the calculator website.

After you have the results, discuss them with your health care provider because some of the information may be confusing Your health care team should be able to explain the terminology and answer any medical questions you might have. 

ESRD Risk Tool For Kidney Donor Candidates (QxMD) 

This tool estimates your risk before donation:

• • The 15-year risk of End-Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD)
  • The lifetime incidence of End-Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD)

The following information needs to be entered into this risk tool:

• • Age
  • Sex 
  • Race
  • eGFR 
  • Systolic Blood Pressure
  • Blood Pressure Medication
  • Body Mass Index
  • Diabetes History
  • Urine Albumin to Creatinine
  • Smoking History

ESRD Risk Tool for Kidney Donor Candidates (Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium)

This tool estimates your risk before donation:

• • The 15-year risk of End-Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD)
  • The lifetime incidence of End-Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD)

The following information needs to be entered into this risk tool:

• • Age
  • Gender
  • Race
  • eGFR 
  • Systolic Blood Pressure
  • Blood Pressure Medication 
  • Body Mass Index
  • Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes History
  • Urine Albumin to Creatinine
  • Smoking History

Kidney Donor Risk Prediction (University of Minnesota)

This tool predicts your risk after kidney donation of:

• High Blood Pressure
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Kidney Function
• Protein in the urine
• 40-year risk of End-Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD)

You will need to enter the following information:

Donor:

• • Age
  • Sex
  • Race
  • Smoking Status
  • eGFR
  • Serum Creatinine
  • Glucose
  • Body Mass Index
  • Systolic Blood Pressure
  • Diastolic Blood Pressure
  • Family history of high blood pressure
  • Hyperlipidemia (high blood fat levels) treated with diet/medication

Recipient: 

• • Relationship to recipient
  • Recipient has Type 1 Diabetes
  • Recipient has Type 2 Diabetes

Consider this!

Lots of time and attention is given to the living kidney donor risk. 

What if we also had a way to measure all the benefits of being a living kidney donor?

Resources

Resources for each of the tools are found on the website with the tool.

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Receive Living Kidney Transplant/Donor Updates HERE

Would you like more information about Living Kidney Donation, email us at info@MyKDC.org

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Glenna Frey, APRN-CNS, is a nephrology nurse who donated her kidney in April 2017 to a stranger.
Amanda Frey, M.A., LMFT, LPC, is a Marriage & Family Therapist living with kidney disease.
Together, they co-founded Kidney Donor Conversations in 2018 to provide education about Living Kidney Donation.