Background: The benefits of live donor kidney transplantation must be balanced against the potential harm to the donor. Well-designed prospective studies are needed to study the long-term consequences of kidney donation. Methods: The "LOng-term follow-up after liVE kidney donation" (LOVE) study is a single center longitudinal cohort study on long-term consequences after living kidney donation. We will study individuals who have donated a kidney from 1981 through 2010 in the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In this time period, 1092 individuals donated a kidney and contact information is available for all individuals. Each participating donor will be matched (1:4) to non-donors derived from the population-based cohort studies of the Rotterdam Study and the Study of Health in Pomerania. Matching will be based on baseline age, gender, BMI, ethnicity, kidney function, blood pressure, pre-existing co-morbidity, smoking, the use of alcohol and highest education degree. Follow-up data is collected on kidney function, kidney-related comorbidity, mortality, quality of life and psychological outcomes in all participants. Discussion: This study will provide evidence on the long-term consequences of live kidney donation for the donor compared to matched non-donors and evaluate the current donor eligibility criteria. Trial registration: Dutch Trial Register NTR3795.

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doi.org/10.1186/s12882-016-0227-5, hdl.handle.net/1765/90291
BMC Nephrology
Department of Bioinformatics

Janki, S., Klop, K., Kimenai, H., van de Wetering, J., Weimar, W., Massey, E., … IJzermans, J. (2016). LOng-term follow-up after liVE kidney donation (LOVE) study: A longitudinal comparison study protocol. BMC Nephrology, 17(1). doi:10.1186/s12882-016-0227-5