There is a strong relationship between chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. The mechanisms underlying this association are not completely understood. One particular area of interest is blood pressure variability.

Methods: This prospective, observational study aims to assess the impact of kidney donation and resultant chronic kidney disease on blood pressure variability when compared to equally healthy two-kidney controls. Data was derived from the multi-center study, Assessing Long-Term Outcomes in Living Kidney Donors (ALTOLD). At baseline (pre-donation), 6 and 12 month visits, each patient had blood pressure assessed using an Omron device set to record three separate measurements over 5 minutes. The standard deviations and coefficient of variations of both the systolic and diastolic blood pressure were determined at baseline, 6 month, and 12 month study visits to assess both within visit and between visit blood pressure variability among donors versus controls.

Results: Following kidney donation the donor's measured glomerular filtration rate (ml/min/1.73m²) decreased from 96.9 to 67.1 at 12 months (p < 0.0001), whereas there was no difference among controls, 95.8 versus 94.2 at 12 months. The systolic blood pressure standard deviations and coefficient of variations at baseline, 6 months and 12 months were not different between donors or controls, within the visit, or across visits, table 1. Similarly, there were no differences in the diastolic blood pressure standard deviations and coefficient of variations, table 1.

Conclusion: Within the first 12 months of kidney donation, reduced glomerular filtration rate does not result in changes in blood pressure variability when compared to healthy two-kidney controls.

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