Donate Organ?

[Wenmin]

I am a self diagnosed celiac and I am in the process of going through testing to donate a kidney to my mother. My family has a history of polycystic kidneys and we have had 3 family members that have already had kidney transplants (2 were living donors and 1 cadaver). I am my mothers' last hope because my brother already donated a kidney to a relative and my sister has the polycystic kidney disease. (We are only 3 children in the family.) I just went to the Medical Center less than 2 weeks ago to go through extensive testing, chest xray, cat scan, stress test, meeting with coordinators, doctors, pshchologists, etc., etc., etc., Just wondering if anyone developed kidney problems since being celiac or is this a possibility?

[Jestgar]

Very intense question.

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, but this is what I've found:

Open Original Shared Link

I think that the article is accessible to everyone, but the summation is:

Results. celiac disease was associated with an increased risk of any form of GN (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.64; 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 1.01–2.66; P = 0.046; 89 events), CGN (HR = 2.65; 95% CI = 1.34–5.24; P = 0.005; 39 events), dialysis (HR = 3.48; 95% CI = 2.26–5.37; P<0.001; 102 positive events) and KT (HR = 3.15; 95% CI = 1.29–7.71; P = 0.012; 22 events).

Conclusion. We suggest that immune characteristics associated with celiac disease increase the risk of chronic renal disease. Individuals with celiac disease may also be at a moderately increased risk of any form of GN.

The follow-up was up to 27 years, so the risk is over a long period of time.

They used small bowel biopsy diagnoses as inclusion criterion for celiac disease. No mention of adherence to diet.

Also not clear if they excluded Celiacs with a late diagnosis and preexisting kidney disease.

[Wenmin]

Sorry my question wasn't clear. I am asking if it is a wise decision to donate a kidney now to my mother? Will I be at risk later to develop renal failure due to Celiac?

Thanks for your help,

[Jestgar]

That's kinda what I thought your question was.

If you look at the stats from that paper:

Results. celiac disease was associated with an increased risk of any form of

GN (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.64;

CGN (HR = 2.65;

dialysis (HR = 3.48;

KT (HR = 3.15;

[glomerulonephritis ((GN) (acute, chronic and non-specified),

chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN)

renal replacement therapy including dialysis treatment and kidney transplantation (KT) ]

Then yes, you have a higher risk of kidney injury than the normal population, but, as I said, their study population was defined as Celiac, but not clear how long they may have been undiagnosed.

And this was one study.

I can look a bit more tomorrow and see if there have been any, more definitive studies done.

The way you read a hazard ratio is to look at how much more than 1 it is. So for KT, you are 3 times more likely to need some sort of kidney replacement therapy (over 27 years) than the normal population. This means, if the risk for a normal person is .3/1000 ( Open Original Shared Link ), then your risk is .9/1000.

[Jestgar]

I couldn't find anything more specific. There seems to be some association of IgA nephropathy and Celiac, but it's not clear which comes first, or even if one leads to the other.

I also want to reiterate that the one study I found didn't mention whether or not people were following a gluten-free diet. I think that would make a difference.

[Wenmin]

Thanks for your time and help!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Wenmin