Obesity Is Associated With Inferior General Health Following Live Kidney Donation Independent of Surgical Complications.

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have reported reduced physical quality of life scores for living kidney donors with high BMI at donation though the impact of short-term surgical complications remains unclear. We hypothesized that donors with a BMI ≥30 kg/m2 and complications < 3 months from donation would be at increased risk for long-term poor general health. Methods: We surveyed the general health of 1,326 living kidney donors, >1 year from donation, on a scale ranging from “excellent” to “very good”, “good”, “fair” or “poor”. Using logistic regression, we analyzed BMI and the presence of complications <3 months from donation as a risk factor for inferior health ratings. Results: Time from donation to survey was 17.4 ± 11.2 years with an average age of 58.2 ± 12.6 years. Those with a baseline BMI >30 kg/m2 and who experienced a complication within the first 3 months were significantly older at the time of donation. There was no difference in race, relationship to the recipient or age at donation amongst the other groups. Donors with a BMI ≥30 kg/m2 and no complications <3 months had a 2.33 fold increased risk for reporting “good”, “fair”, or “poor” health outcomes (OR 2.33, p<0.01) compared to a 2.06 fold increased risk for those with short-term complications (OR 2.06, p=0.03). Those with a BMI <30 kg/m2 and <3 month complications were the only group with significantly increased odds for “fair” or “poor” health outcomes (OR 2.01, p<0.01) (Table 1). Table 1: Logistic Regression- Predictors of Inferior General Health.Table: No Caption available.Conclusion: Obese donors are at greater risk for reporting inferior general health many years from donation regardless whether they experienced post-surgical complications.