Live Kidney Donation Raises Hypertension Risk in Blacks

[Clark]

http://www.renalandurologynews.com/live-kidney-donation-raises-hypertension-risk-in-blacks/article/216639/

Live Kidney Donation Raises Hypertension Risk in Blacks
Jody A. Charnow

Live kidney donation by African-Americans increases their risk of hypertension, researchers reported at Kidney Week 2011.

The researchers, led by Mona D. Doshi, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Wayne State University in Detroit, compared 138 African-Americans who underwent a donor nephrectomy and 48 African-Americans who were suitable candidates for live kidney donation but did not donate because of non-medical reasons. None of the donors had either hypertension or diabetes prior to donation.

After a median follow-up of seven years (range 4-18 years), 69 donors (50%) had hypertension (either a systolic pressure greater than 140 mm Hg, a diastolic pressure greater than 90 mm Hg, or the use of antihypertensive medications) compared with 13 non-donors (27%). Donors had a significant 2.4 times increased risk of hypertension compared with non-donors, after adjusting for potential confounding variables. In addition, 52% of donors were not seeing a physician regularly and 49% of those with hypertension were not being treated for the condition.