Psychosocial wellbeing after living kidney donation - a longitudinal, prospective study

Abstract

Living kidney donation (LKD) has become routine practice across the world as the gold standard treatment of end-stage renal failure. Whilst the physical risks and harms of LKD surgery are well documented, relatively little is known about psychosocial outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine whether it was possible to quantify the psychosocial impact of LKD. A prospective longitudinal study of 93 living kidney donors was performed. Data were collected preoperatively, and 3 and 12 months after donation. Questionnaires included 11 validated psychosocial outcome measures and questions specific to LKD. Over time, there was no significant change in wellbeing, life satisfaction, self-esteem, social comparison, distress, depression, stress, anxiety or social support at 3 or 12 months. Despite this, questions specific to LKD indicated that donors felt positively about donation, with low levels of regret. This study provides a thorough assessment of psychosocial outcomes after LKD over the first year. Donors felt positive about LKD although there was no evidence of any significant change in psychosocial outcomes. Despite no measurable psychosocial benefit after living kidney donation, there was also no evidence of harm.

Psychosocial consequences of living kidney donation: a prospective multicentre study on health-related quality of life, donor–recipient relationships and regret

“…Prospective studies in living kidney donors have shown small decreases in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) shortly after donation, generally returning to baseline in the longer term [1][2][3]. Also, HRQoL scores after donation mostly return to the level of general population norms [4,5].…”

Wie bewerten Nierenlebendspender die Spende und deren Folgen? Eine Befragung von 144 Betroffenen

“…Biller-Andorno [18] Trotz allem berichten nahezu alle Lebendnierenspender (98 %), sie würden die Spende erneut durchführen, wenn sie könnten. In ähnlichen Studien finden sich diesbezüglich Raten zwischen 89-94 % [11,15,19,20]. Auch wenn die Mehrheit der Lebendspen-der eine Belastung des körperlichen oder psychischen Befindens durch die Lebendspende verneint, berichtet dennoch ein relativ hoher Anteil diesbezüglich Beschwerden.…”

The ELPAT living organ donor Psychosocial Assessment Tool (EPAT): from ‘what’ to ‘how’ of psychosocial screening - a pilot study

“…The current evidence indicates that when living donors are appropriately screened and selected, long‐term physical and psychological morbidity is limited, and there is no impact on life span . Recent studies in living kidney donors have shown that there may be a small increased relative risk of end‐stage renal failure when compared to matched healthy nondonors, however, the absolute risk remains low .…”