The effect of donor obesity on kidney transplantation success has long been an overlooked clinical research area. Even though there is no strict guideline in most countries prohibiting donation from obese individuals, most candidates with BMI over 35-40 kg/m2 are overturned due to concerns regarding the renal functional deterioration in the donor over the long run. The effects of excessive fat mass on renal function and allograft survival have been analyzed by several longitudinal and follow-up studies. These studies have documented the deleterious effect of long term graft outcomes by excessive body mass in living kidney donors and de novo obesity or pre-existing obesity worsening post transplantation on kidney outcomes. However, there is a paucity of clinical trials aimed at countering overweight and obesity in living or deceased kidney donors and in transplant patients. In this review, we will briefly review mechanism whereby fat excess may induce adverse kidney outcomes to then describe the effect on graft function and survival by living obese donors along with the effect post transplantation obesity on the same outcomes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.