Gender should be considered in kidney transplant

A new study at University Hospital Basel , Switzerland, says women who receive kidneys from males have a higher rate of graft failure than other donor-recipient combinations, and gender should be considered when choosing donor matches.

Compared with all other gender combinations, transplantation of male donor kidneys into female patients was associated with an 8 percent increased risk of graft failure and an 11 percent increased risk of graft failure-related death in the first year. Between two and 10 years, the rates were 6 percent and 10 percent.

They noted that male recipients may benefit from bigger male kidneys, with their higher number of nephrons, which are the basic structural and functional units of the kidney. Women may not need the same number of nephrons as men, and could benefit from the lower likelihood of rejection associated with a kidney from a female donor.

The study was published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.