Kidney Transplantation Should Be Accessible to Patients Living with Morbid Obesity (BMI >40 kg/m2): PRO

What is it about?

Patients living with obesity should not be refused access to kidney transplantation on account of BMI-defined obesity. Patients living with obesity still benefit from kidney transplantation with improved survival compared with remaining on dialysis. BMI has many important limitations as a means on measuring obesity and may inappropriately label certain populations as obese, which can worse existing race and sex-based inequities in access to transplant. While transplant healthcare providers can certainly encourage weight loss prior to transplantation, it is likely not appropriate to restrict access to kidney transplant for patients living with obesity.

Featured Image