(March 9, 2010 - Insidermedicine)

Donating a kidney does not appear to increase the risk of dying in the years immediately following the procedure, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Here is some information on live kidney donation:

•    It is a surgical procedure in which a healthy person has one of their kidneys removed to be transplanted into another person with little or no healthy kidney function

•    Live donations are more likely to be successful than donations that are received from someone who is deceased

•    While strangers have been known to donate kidneys, they are usually donated by family or other loved ones.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore looked at the long- and short-term outcomes of over 80,000 individuals who donated a kidney between 1994 and 2009. Their outcomes were compared with those of over 9,000 individuals participating in another study who did not donate a kidney.

The death rate during the first 90 days following the donation of a kidney was about 3 per 10,000 donations. This rate remained stable during the final 15 years of the study period. After controlling for age and the presence of other medical conditions, those who donated a kidney had a similar survival rate as those who did not donate a kidney, during a follow-up period that averaged about six years.

We spoke with Dr. Dorry Segev, one of the investigators of this study, who offered some further insight.

Today’s research suggests that donating a kidney is a relatively safe procedure for those who are identified by medical personnel to be good candidates for the procedure.