Background:

The negative impact of tobacco smoking on renal function has been widely studied. However, there is limited knowledge about the effect of smoking on pre-operative and post-operative renal function in living kidney donors.

Objective:

The objective of the study was to evaluate the short- and mid-term impact of smoking on donor renal function.

Methods:

This is a retrospective study of 308 patients who underwent living donor nephrectomy (LDN) at a tertiary referral hospital. We compared baseline characteristics as well as functional outcomes following LDN according to history of tobacco smoking. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated with the modification of diet in renal disease equation in 6 time periods: pre-operative, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months after surgery. We performed a Kaplan-Meier analysis for chronic kidney disease (CKD) outcome and binary logistic regression analysis to identify risk factors associated with CKD at 24 months of follow-up.

Results:

Among donors, 106 (34.4%) reported a smoking history before nephrectomy. Smoking donors had worse pre-operative eGFR than non-smokers (90 ± 26.3 mL/min/1.73m2 vs. 96 ± 27 mL/min/1.73 m2, respectively; p = 0.02) and lower eGFR at 1 week (p = 0.01), 1 month (p ≤ 0.01), 6 months (p = 0.01), and 12 months (p = 0.01) after LDN. Tobacco smoking (OR 3.35, p ≤ 0.01) and age ≥ 40 years at donation (OR 6.59, p ≤ 0.01) were associated with post-operative development of CKD at 24 months after LDN.

Conclusions:

Living kidney donors with a tobacco smoking history had an increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease following nephrectomy. Smoking-cessation strategies should be implemented.