Study: Kidney donors have a normal life

Kidney donors have a normal life span, study finds. Meaning, if you have two kidneys you may donate one. Will you?

Potential kidney donors can stop worrying about the long-term effects such a donation might have on their health and longevity.

The first long-term study of kidney donors has found that people who give kidneys to others not only have a normal life span, they also have fewer kidney problems than the general population — perhaps because they are healthier to begin with. “We’ve suspected all along that kidney donation is a safe practice, but there has never been a long-term study with large numbers of patients in the United States,” said Dr. Hassan N. Ibrahim of the University of Minnesota Medical School, who led the study.

The report published today in the New England Journal of Medicine analyzed the outcome for nearly 3,700 donors who were studied for as long as 40 years.