Do transplant recipients need to take care in poor air quality?

Posted by dordor14 @dordor14, Nov 4, 2025

Hello all!
I am two months today post kidney Transplant and doing great overall. Numbers are good they just lowered my tacrolimus to one in the morning and one in the evening and I’m of course still being cautious. I live in a farm community although I live in town. It’s 65° here on November 5 and I just noticed that there was an air quality alert and it says for highly sensitive individuals. The general stuff I’m seeing says that there is a risk for immunosuppressed people but I didn’t know if anyone knew this for a fact. I know it’s a lot about the particulates especially in a rural community. Anyone have any experience with this? We were going to clean the garage but I’m just as happy staying inside!

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parrot53 | @parrot53 | Nov 5, 2025

Congratulations on your kidney transplant. Wishing you the very best on your new journey.
We have experienced air quality issues with Canadian fires affecting NY in the last couple of years. We purchased an air purifier to help clear the particulates. Air quality even inside, since we have no air conditioning, goes down but the filters help clear it faster. Staying inside is recommended for those with respiratory issues by local authorities when these alerts are issued.

craigcraig | @craigcraig | Nov 5, 2025

Hi. Had a liver transplant 18 months ago. Have been on TAC the entire time and will be for life. No one at Mayo mentioned anything to me re air quality then or since. I live in a Denver suburb and while everyone thinks clean mountain air actually the air quality can be quite bad at times. Has been ranked as the worst. Something about where Denver is situated /mtns and local wildfires. But while my mom has had issues and is housebound because of it on occasion I have never had a single instance/issue. So I guess it varies person to person but it is not a problem by default because of being immunosuppressed. Just a sample size of one. Congrats on your transplant !

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Nov 17, 2025

@dordor14, I hope you saw the helpful posts from @craigcraig and @parrot53. I found this related study:

- Association between air pollution and transplant outcomes in kidney transplant recipients: a systematic review and meta-analysis https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12451696/

Did you ask your transplant about guidelines for transplant recipients and monitoring air quality? And did you manage to get out of helping to clean the garage? 😉