Dialysis – Transplantation
Kidney International (2004) 66, 1654–1661; doi:10.1111/j.1523-1755.2004.00932.x
Patient and graft outcomes from older living kidney donors are similar to those from younger donors despite lower GFR
LOURDES S PEÑA DE LA VEGA, ALVARO TORRES, HUMBERTO E BOHORQUEZ, JULIE K HEIMBACH, JAMES M GLOOR, THOMAS R SCHWAB, SANDRA J TALER, SCOTT L NYBERG, MICHAEL B ISHITANI, MIKEL PRIETO, JORGE A VELOSA, TIMOTHY S LARSON, MARK D STEGALL, FERNANDO G COSIO, STEPHEN C TEXTOR and MATTHEW D GRIFFIN
Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Internal Medicine; and Division of Transplantation Surgery, Department of Surgery, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota
Correspondence: Matthew D. Griffin M.B., BCh, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, 200 First St. SW, Charlton 10 Transplant Center, Rochester, MN 55905. E-mail: griffin.matthew@mayo.edu
Received 1 April 2004; Revised 26 April 2004; Accepted 10 May 2004.
Abstract
Patient and graft outcomes from older living kidney donors are similar to those from younger donors despite lower GFR.
Background
Donor age adversely affects deceased-donor kidney transplant outcomes, but its influence on living-donor transplantation is less well characterized.
Methods
Living-donor kidney transplants at a single center between 1998 and 2000 were reviewed. Data were abstracted for 52 transplants from donors aged 
50 years and for a matched group of 104 transplants from donors aged <50 years. Survival indices were compared during the first three years' post-transplantation. Functional indices, including serial iothalamate clearances, were compared at 1, 12, and 24 months.
Results
Predonation glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was lower among older donors (94 
12 vs. 108 17 mL/min/SA) but post-transplant compensatory hypertrophy was similar (11.7 26.3% vs. 7.7 31.4%). Recipients of older-donor grafts were older (52.8 16.5 vs. 46.1 15.1 years) and more frequently unrelated to the donor (54% vs. 39%). Trends toward higher frequency of slow graft function, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, and polyomavirus nephropathy were observed for older-donor grafts. Three-year recipient, graft, and death-censored graft survivals were 90% for both groups. At 1, 12, and 24 months, serum creatinine was higher and GFR was lower among recipients of older- compared with younger-donor grafts. Other functional indices (urine total protein, serum potassium and uric acid, hemoglobin, and number of antihypertensives) were not different. Donor age correlated with graft GFR at 1, 12, and 24 months for the entire study cohort by linear regression.
Conclusion
Older donor age does not preclude excellent results from living-donor kidney transplantation but should be appreciated as being associated with relatively lower GFR.
Keywords:
renal transplantation, living donation, glomerular filtration rate, graft survival, aging, proteinuria
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