Donor Gender Balance in a Living-Related Kidney Transplantation Program in Oman

Pregnancy in Living Kidney Donors: An Evidence-Based Review

Purpose of review

To review the current studies and guidelines on the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in female kidney donors.

Recent findings

Living kidney donors include a significant amount of young women of child-bearing age. Safety and possible risks of pregnancy after donation are a concern for female kidney donor candidates. Many current studies indicate a higher risk of preeclampsia in women after kidney donation. Considering the increasing number of living kidney donors, the maternal outcomes of living kidney donation is an active area of research.

Summary

Guidelines and consensus statements on the risk of pregnancy in living kidney donors recommend close monitoring of blood pressure, weight gain, and proteinuria during pregnancy. Current studies indicate an increased risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in living kidney donors. Counseling and informing donor candidates about the possible risks is important.

Organ transplantation in Arabian Gulf countries: ethical and legal practice and beyond

Almost half a century ago, organ transplantation was introduced to Arabian Gulf countries. The criteria for diagnosing brain death among these countries is relatively similar, in which the main area of discrepancy is the number of physicians required to diagnose and their required specialties. Regarding the organs and tissues allowed for transplantation, they must possess an intrinsic regenerative ability if they are harvested from a living donor to avoid jeopardizing their health. To donate, Arabian Gulf countries follow an opt-in consent system, requiring the donor's informed consent before organ procurement. Live donors can be related or unrelated to the recipient, although the latter is subjected to variable restrictions among Arabian Gulf countries and prohibition in one of them. This is due to its implication in commercial trade. Furthermore, the Gulf Health Council was established to coordinate different health initiatives and programs between Gulf states, including organ transplantation, in an attempt to improve the health sector of all of its member states. Although organ trafficking is illegal in all Arabian Gulf countries, their penalty systems vary from barring physicians, subjecting them to fines or even imprisonment. As for the attitudes of people towards organ transplantation, the willingness to donate varies among these countries. The rate of organ transplantation remains low. This article aims to cover the history of organ transplantation, brain death diagnosis protocols, organ donation enrollment policies and conditions, as well as the issue of organ trafficking in Arabian Gulf countries.

Gender disparity of living donor renal transplantation in East China

Gender disparity among living kidney donors is common world wide, which demonstrates different social and economic problems in different countries. However, few data are available for China. Therefore, we retrospectively analyzed all 139 living donor renal transplants performed in our center between 2003 and 2010. The annual number of living donor renal transplants increased from six to 26 cases per year during the observation period. Among them, 69.2% of all kidney donors were females, whereas 79.5% of the recipients were male. The average age of recipients was 34.1 ± 7.6 yr and 94% (110/117) were younger than 44 yr. In contrast, 53% (62/117) of all donors were "middle-aged" (45-59 yr) with an average donor age of 47.8 ± 9.2 yr. The first-degree relatives accounted for the majority of the donor pool, as the most common donor-recipient combination consisted of mother to son. In conclusion, there was a male and young preponderance among recipients, and a female and middle-aged one among donors of living kidney transplants in our transplant center, which might be related to socio-cultural as well as economic factors.