Psychosocial long-term impact of donation on donation on kidney living donors- a comperative study of two major European transplant centres

Background Kidney living donation appears to be a safe procedure that does not affect the health of the kidney living donors (KLDs). Although the medical outcomes are being widely studied information regarding the long-term psychological outcome of these healthy individuals is missing. In our study we assessed the postoperative psychosocial status of KLDs in two major European transplantation centres, in the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and the Charité-University Hospital in Berlin. Methods All kidney living donors who underwent nephrectomy between 1998-2014 were contacted. Data from 767 donors were collected. The donors completed a battery of psychometric questionnaires (HADS, PHQ, SOC, SF-36, ACSA, life events, questions from the ELSA), as well as questions regarding satisfaction, decision to donate and the donor-recipient relationship in a total of 274 questions. In this preliminary study HAD, SOC, SF-36 were evaluated and the results of the two centers were statistically compared. Results Results regarding the long-term psychosocial wellbeing up to 16 years after kidney donor nephrectomy are presented and compared to the general population of the two countries. The results show the KLDs in the studied centers are healthy adults with a QoL comparable to that of the general population for both countries. Anxiety and depression levels are low with a notable number of outliers explained. Group comparisons regarding age, gender, donor-recipient relationship, personality characteristics and recipient variables are made and multivariate analysis is performed to explain low psychosocial donor outcome. Conclusion The results and the differences between the two centers are critically discussed allowing conclusions regarding the donor evaluation practices and their postoperative care, as well as organizational and cultural differences.