Hospitalizations following living donor nephrectomy in the United States.
OBJECTIVE
Living donors represented 43% of United States kidney donors in 2012. Although research suggests minimal long-term consequences of donation, few comprehensive longitudinal studies for this population have been performed. The primary aims of this study were to examine the incidence, risk factors, and causes of rehospitalization following donation.


METHODS
State Inpatient Databases (SID) compiled by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality were used to identify living donors in four different states between 2005 and 2010 (n=4524). Multivariable survival models were used to examine risks for rehospitalization, and patient characteristics were compared with data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). Outcomes among patients undergoing appendectomy (n=200,274), cholecystectomy (n=255,231), and nephrectomy for nonmetastatic carcinoma (n=1314) were contrasted.


RESULTS
The study population was similar to United States donors (for SRTR and SID, respectively: mean age, 41 and 41 years; African Americans, 12% and 10%; women, 60% and 61%). The 3-year incidence of rehospitalization following donation was 11% for all causes and 9% excluding pregnancy-related hospitalizations. After censoring of models for pregnancy-related rehospitalizations, older age (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR], 1.02 per year; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.01 to 1.03), African American race (AHR, 2.16; 95% CI, 1.54 to 3.03), depression (AHR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.12 to 3.14), hypothyroidism (AHR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.06 to 2.49), and longer initial length of stay were related to higher rehospitalization rates among donors. Compared with living donors, adjusted risks for rehospitalizations were greater among patients undergoing appendectomy (AHR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.42 to 1.75), cholecystectomy (AHR, 2.25; 95% CI, 2.03 to 2.50), and nephrectomy for nonmetastatic carcinoma (AHR, 2.95; 95% CI, 2.58 to 3.37). Risks for rehospitalizations were higher among African Americans than whites in each of the surgical groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The SID is a valuable source for evaluating characteristics and outcomes of living kidney donors that are not available in traditional transplant databases. Rehospitalizations following donor nephrectomy are less than seen with other comparable surgical procedures but are relatively higher among donors who are older, are African American, and have select comorbid conditions. The increased risks for rehospitalizations among African Americans are not unique to living donation.
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences,, ‡Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, and, §Digestive Disease Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio;, †Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, ‖The Transplant Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
Jesse D
JD
Schold
David A
DA
Goldfarb
Laura D
LD
Buccini
James R
JR
Rodrigue
Didier
D
Mandelbrot
Emily L G
EL
Heaphy
Richard A
RA
Fatica
Emilio D
ED
Poggio
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000367:Age Factors; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010359:Patient Readmission; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult