Risk of biliary tract disease in living liver donors: A population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Whether living liver donors have a higher risk of biliary tract disease compared with non-donors remains unknown. METHODS: Data were collected from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database for the 2003–2011 period. The study cohort comprised 1,446 patients aged ≥ 18 years who had served as living liver donors. The primary outcome was the incidence of biliary tract disease. Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to determine the hazard ratios. RESULTS: The incidence density rate of biliary tract disease was 13.9-fold higher in the liver donor (LD) cohort than in the non-LD cohort (10.2 vs. 0.71 per 1,000 person-years), with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 14.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 7.73–26.1). Stratified by comorbidity, the relative risk of biliary tract disease was higher in the LD cohort than in the non-LD cohort for both patients with or without comorbidity. The incidence density rate of biliary tract disease was significantly higher in the first 3 years (13.5 per 1,000 person-years in the LD cohort). The highest adjusted HR of biliary tract disease for LD patients compared with the non-LD cohort was 22.4 (95% CI = 10.8–46.1) in the follow-up ≤ 3 years. CONCLUSION: Living liver donors had a higher risk of biliary tract disease compared with non-donors.