A better understanding of the course and risk factors for impaired long-term health-related quality of life (HRQoL; ie, physical, psychological, and social-relational functioning) after kidney donation might help clinicians improve the care of live kidney donors. This systematic review and meta-analysis summarizes prospective studies about the course and predictors of HRQoL in living kidney donors. Studies indicate that shortly after donation, donors have lower HRQoL, with minor to moderate changes in psychological and social-relational functioning and major changes in physical functioning. At 3-12 months after donation, HRQoL returned to baseline or was slightly reduced, particularly for fatigue, but scores were still comparable to general population norms. Results were mainly robust across surgery techniques. A limited number of studies examined risk factors for impaired HRQoL, with low psychological functioning before donation as the most consistent predictor. Based on these results, clinicians can inform potential donors that, on average, kidney donors have high long-term HRQoL; however, donors with low psychological functioning at baseline are those most at risk of impaired long-term HRQoL. Future studies should focus on other potentially relevant predictors of postdonation HRQoL, including donor eligibility criteria and donor-recipient relationships, to optimize screening and interventions for donors at risk.

Daily stressors and the stress-vulnerability factor worrying predict indicators of the short-term course of RA disease activity and fatigue and pain, while specific cytokines predict short-term fluctuations of fatigue. These stress-related variables and immune markers seem to affect different aspects of disease activity or symptom fluctuations independently in RA.

Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) following laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (LDN) is a disregarded topic. In this cross‐sectional study, all consecutive patients who underwent an LDN at the Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc; 2003‐2016) were approached for participation. Five hundred twelve living kidney donors were included and asked to complete two questionnaires, including the McGill Pain Questionnaire and the RAND Short Form‐36 Health Status Inventory (RAND SF‐36) regarding their health‐related quality of life (HRQoL). The mean prevalence of CPSP following LDN was 5.7%, with a mean follow‐up time of 6 years. Possible predictors of CPSP following LDN are severe early postoperative pain, previous abdominal surgery, and preexisting backache. The RAND SF‐36 revealed an impaired HRQoL in patients with CPSP when compared to patients without CPSP. In conclusion, this study revealed that the prevalence of CPSP following LDN is substantial. Given the possible association between the presence of CPSP and impaired HRQoL scores, living kidney donors should be well informed in the preoperative phase about the risk of CPSP.