title: Recipient graft failure or death impact on living kidney donor quality of life based on the living organ donor network database.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is a paucity of prospective long-term data on living kidney donor (LKD) quality of life (QoL). The Living Organ Donor Network (LODN) database follows donors longitudinally and cross-references with United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) data to assess factors that affect donor QoL.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Short Form (SF)-36 was sent to donors at 6 months and yearly thereafter. Recipient outcomes were determined from the UNOS database. Of 2219 donors, 1030 returned ≥ 1 QoL survey in the first year. Seven-hundred and thirty-one donors returned at least two surveys with 51 associated with a nonfunctioning graft and 38 with recipient death.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Initial QoL scores were not different between donors whose recipients were alive with graft function, and those whose recipients died (88.9 vs 89.2, P = 0.87). For donors whose recipient died, QoL in the year after recipient death averaged 6 points lower than the initial QoL (88.9 vs 82.9, P = 0.01). Thirty-one donors returned surveys an average of 4.1 years after their recipient's death. Final QoL score increased by 2.5 points, no longer significantly lower than the initial QoL (85.4 vs 88.9, P = 0.16). Thirty-eight donors returned surveys in the year after their recipient's graft failure and their QoL decreased by 5.6 points on average (86.9 vs 81.2, P = 0.07). Twenty-eight of these donors returned future surveys and final QoL was unchanged (81.2 vs 81.2, P = 0.99).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Donor QoL declines after recipient death but recovers with time. Graft failure resulted in decreased QoL without recovery. The LODN database identifies factors affecting LKD QoL and provides a model for a national registry.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Urology, Eastern Virginia Medical School , Virginia Beach, Virginia.
authors.forename: Justin M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Martha K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Behnke
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Fabrizio
authors.forename: Thomas R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: McCune
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology