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Myaskovsky L, Switzer GE, Dew MA, Crowley-Matoka M, Unruh M, DeVito Dabbs A, Shapiro R, Tan H. Is donating a kidney associated with changes in health habits? Paper presented at: European Society for Organ Transplantation Annual Meeting; 2010 Apr 18; Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Donating a kidney is a helping act that may have short and long-term consequences to the donor's health. It also represents an opportunity for donors to re-evaluate their health habits. While previous studies have examined the effect of donation on health and financial outcomes, no studies have examined whether donating a kidney is related to changes in health habits. We conducted telephone interviews with 85 donors (47 females; 12 African Americans; 70 European Americans; 3 Other) who donated a kidney via laparoscopy between 10/02 and 12/04 and were an average 27 mos. post-donation (range = 7-66). Donors were asked to recall their health habits before and after donation. Overall rates of regular check-ups among donors increased from 53% before to 80% after donation. Of those who had regular check-ups post-donation, 94% had their blood pressure, and 74% had blood glucose checked, and 65% had their kidney function checked. While 23% of donors who smoked pre-donation quit smoking, there was no change in rates of heavy drinking ( > 14 drinks/week) pre- to post-donation (6% at both times). Before donation, 57% of donors reported exercising regularly ( > 3x/week); but post-donation, only 46% exercised regularly. While 18% of donors had a BMI in the obese to extremely obese range before donation, that percentage increased to 25% post-donation. Regression analyses were used to identify demographics and health habits that were associated with post-donation outcomes, after controlling for months since donation. Regular check-ups and exercise post-donation was associated with better physical quality of life (-4.1 and -5.6, respectively), all ps < .05. Despite recommendations for annual testing in kidney donors, a substantial proportion of donors do not have their blood glucose or kidney function checked annually. This finding implies that typical pre-donation health education strategies are not having the desired impact. Future research should evaluate the reliability of these findings in a larger sample of kidney donors and seek to understand and promote better health habits among kidney donors.
