The impact of the donors’ and recipients’ medical complications on living kidney

[Clark]

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tri.12760/abstract?campaign=wolacceptedarticle

The impact of the donors’ and recipients’ medical complications on living kidney donors’ mental health
Lotte Timmerman^1,*, Mirjam Laging¹, Reinier Timman², Willij C. Zuidema¹, Denise K. Beck¹, Jan N.M. IJzermans³, Michiel G.H. Betjes¹, Jan J. V Busschbach², Willem Weimar¹ andEmma K. Massey¹
DOI: 10.1111/tri.12760
Transplant International
Accepted Article (Accepted, unedited articles published online and citable. The final edited and typeset version of record will appear in future.)

Abstract
A minority of living kidney (between 5-25%) donors have poor psychological outcomes after donation. There is mixed evidence on the influence of medical complications on these outcomes. We examined whether medical complications among donors and recipients predicted changes in donors’ mental health (psychological symptoms and well-being) between pre-donation and one year post-donation. One-hundred forty-five donors completed questionnaires on mental health pre-donation, and 3 and 12 months post-donation. Number of recipient re-hospitalizations and donor complications (none; minor; or severe) were obtained from medical records at 3 and 12 months after surgery. Multilevel regression analyses were used to examine the association between medical complications and changes in donors’ mental health over time after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics. We found that donor complications (p=0.003) and recipient re-hospitalizations (p=0.001) predicted an increase in donors’ psychological symptoms over time. Recipient re-hospitalizations also predicted a decrease in well-being (p=0.005) over time, however this relationship became weaker over time. We conclude that medical complications experienced by either the donor or recipient is a risk factor for deterioration in donors’ mental health after living kidney donation. Professionals should monitor donors who experience medical complications, and offer additional psychological support when needed.