Visceral obesity in Asian living kidney donors significantly impacts early renal function after donor nephrectomy.

Obesity may be a risk factor for kidney donors to develop reduced renal function. The Framingham heart study suggested that visceral adipose tissue (VAT) confers a more adverse metabolic profile compared with subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). Asians tend to have a higher VAT composition and it is unclear if their kidney function is affected differently. We hypothesized that Asian living kidney donors who have visceral obesity are at a higher risk of renal function deterioration 1 year after donation. Between 2011 and 2014, we retrospectively evaluated data from 73 consecutive patients (52% male; mean age 44.9 ± 11.7 years) before they underwent donor nephrectomy and at their 1 year routine follow-up. VAT and SAT were measured at the level of the umbilicus on pre-operative computerized tomography (CT). Visceral obesity (VO) was defined as a VAT > 100 cm [2] and patients were then further divided and compared in two subgroups: VAT > 100 and < 100 cm [2]. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR, mL/min per 1.73 m [2]) was calculated using the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation pre-operatively and 1 year post-operatively. Both subgroups had similar baseline kidney function (P = NS) pre-operatively. At the 1 year follow-up, patients with VO experienced a more significant decline of renal function (109 ± 9 to 89 ± 8 mL/min per 1.73 m Visceral obesity as defined by VAT > 100 cm