Kidney donors at no increased risk of heart disease

Living kidney donors are at no greater risk of heart disease than the healthy general population, finds a study published on bmj.com today. In the general population, there is a strong link between reduced kidney function and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Given that people who donate a kidney lose half their kidney mass, doctors need to know whether this risk extends to them. The study involved 2,028 people in Ontario, Canada who donated a kidney between 1992 and 2009 and 20,280 healthy non-donors for comparison. Despite reduced kidney function in the donors, they found a lower risk of death or first major cardiovascular event in donors compared with non-donors (2.8 versus 4.1 events per 1,000 person years). There was also no significant difference in the risk of major cardiovascular events between donors and non-donors (1.7 versus 2 events per 1,000 person years).