" All-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) was identified in 1901 individuals who donated a kidney during 1963 through 2007 with a median follow-up of 15.1 years. A control group of 32,621 potentially eligible kidney donors was selected, with a median follow-up of 24.9 years. Hazard ratio for all-cause death was significantly increased to 1.30 (95% confidence interval 1.11-1.52) for donors compared with controls. There was a significant corresponding increase in cardiovascular death to 1.40 (1.03-1.91), while the risk of ESRD was greatly and significantly increased to 11.38 (4.37-29.6). The overall incidence of ESRD among donors was 302 cases per million and might have been influenced by hereditary factors. Immunological renal disease was the cause of ESRD in the donors. Thus, kidney donors are at increased long-term risk for ESRD, cardiovascular, and all-cause mortality compared with a control group of non-donors who would have been eligible for donation."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24284516
A kidney donor at 18 now regrets it
121–130 of 143 posts
Re: A kidney donor at 18 now regrets it
#122I admire the author's selflessness. At the same time, it seemed easier to be selfless as a teenager, probably for similar reasons for why it's easier to draft 18-year-olds than it is 28-year-olds. Given young persons willingness to sacrifice for the greater cause without realizing that life extends well past your 30s and 40s, I wonder if more shouldn't be done to let young donors think of the risks, so that their naï…
>At the same time, it seemed easier to be selfless as a teenager, probably for similar reasons for why it's easier to draft 18-year-olds than it is 28-year-olds. Given young persons willingness to sacrifice for the greater cause without realizing that life extends well past your 30s and 40s I totally agree, the biological basis of this is Pre-frontal Cortex development. "The [prefrontal cortex] isn't fully developed…
Drafting 18-year-olds: well, they are less likely to have employment in strategically important industries, they are less likely to be supporting a family, and they are seldom in mid-college, i.e. to be held aside for a commission upon graduation. Those, that I can think of, were the three big sources of deferment in the WW II draft.
They are also approaching peak physical fitness, both as to capacity for difficult physical work, and to the ability to recover from severe trauma.
[Edit: one should probably not exaggerate the idealism of draftees. Maybe it was there in WW I, but the accounts of WW II and since suggest that it fell off.]
Re: A kidney donor at 18 now regrets it
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
While there is a short fall of viable organs for donation, the issue the author raises here is one of long term risk . This is what gets brushed aside when the organ donation process is activated. Only now do we have results from long term study of donors and some of them as pointed out by the author are not good at all. This problem is not confined to kidney donations for instance, is a growing body of evidence that…
> illogically The ethical problem there is how hard the hospital works to save a patient as opposed to letting them die so they can harvest the organs.
You know, I hear those stories - that hospitals won't work as hard for you if they know you are a donor. Yet I've not seen any numbers on this. The same folks usually state things about an open casket and other such things. I'm guessing it happens, but I'm also guessing that most times, this isn't on the Doctor's and Nurses's minds in an emergency. Besides that, one can have some policies that help negate this: For example, no financial kickbacks.
I suspect that if organ donation is widespread, it becomes much more normal, and this would cease to be an issue/rumor at all. And I do think the OP is correct - the bigger problem is families and religious views more than folks simply letting people die.
Re: A kidney donor at 18 now regrets it
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
This back and forth sounds a great deal like "NO U" being shouted on 4chan. Are there any sources, papers or studies indicating whether it is learned, innate or both? Sources and empiricism are what we should be resorting to, not down-votes.
You're not going to find a lot of people jumping through that hoop, given that 5 seconds with Google is all that it takes. This isn't some controversial developmental theory, and this isn't a formal debate.
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Re: A kidney donor at 18 now regrets it
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
>At the same time, it seemed easier to be selfless as a teenager, probably for similar reasons for why it's easier to draft 18-year-olds than it is 28-year-olds. Given young persons willingness to sacrifice for the greater cause without realizing that life extends well past your 30s and 40s I totally agree, the biological basis of this is Pre-frontal Cortex development. "The [prefrontal cortex] isn't fully developed…
Personally, I am less likely to take risks as I age because I have invested more in myself over time. It seems natural to value that which you have dedicated money, time, and effort. Before adulthood that investment came primarily from my mother and she valued my life waaaaay more than I did. I get that this is a dissociative POV. So often these discussions are about youthful feelings of immortality, more courage, fo…
> Personally, I am less likely to take risks as I age because I have invested more in myself over time. It seems natural to value that which you have dedicated money, time, and effort.
No no. Prefrontal cortex development. Who needs an entirely plausible rational explanation when you can point to mysterious and poorly understood brain-physical reasons?
Re: A kidney donor at 18 now regrets it
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it true that 12 year olds are more likely to pick up a machete than 30 year olds?
Well, trigger warning: discussion of child soldier recruitment, and deadly violence. Recruitment of child soldiers usually involves drugging the targets. 12 year olds are probably less susceptible to be able to realize that they're being drugged and to have the mental fortitude to retain their self through the grooming process. I suspect that even when drugged, a 30 year old will have a better sense of being drugged…
That is atrocious. Do you have any citations to back those up?
Re: A kidney donor at 18 now regrets it
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
> illogically The ethical problem there is how hard the hospital works to save a patient as opposed to letting them die so they can harvest the organs.
You know, I hear those stories - that hospitals won't work as hard for you if they know you are a donor. Yet I've not seen any numbers on this. The same folks usually state things about an open casket and other such things. I'm guessing it happens, but I'm also guessing that most times, this isn't on the Doctor's and Nurses's minds in an emergency. Besides that, one can have some policies that help negate this: For e…
I am a donor myself, so I'm not too worried about it. But perverse incentives should always be checked for.
Re: A kidney donor at 18 now regrets it
#128I guess he's going to be careful with his diet and not drink.
Re: A kidney donor at 18 now regrets it
#129This may be a dumb question, but why are previous kidney donors not given a free pass to the top of the recipient list if they have a problem with their remaining kidney?
..... or get your kidney back when the person you donated it to dies
Not a doctor, but I'm guessing that it's hard to re-transplant one and you have to get the person to die the right way such that any donation is even possible.
Re: A kidney donor at 18 now regrets it
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, trigger warning: discussion of child soldier recruitment, and deadly violence. Recruitment of child soldiers usually involves drugging the targets. 12 year olds are probably less susceptible to be able to realize that they're being drugged and to have the mental fortitude to retain their self through the grooming process. I suspect that even when drugged, a 30 year old will have a better sense of being drugged…
That is atrocious. Do you have any citations to back those up?