Demographic Variance in Renal Transplantation Rates

Annual crude rates of deceased-donor transplantation from the time of hemodialysis initiation over a recent 10-year period were lowest in American Indians/Alaska Natives (2.4%) and blacks (2.8%), and highest in Asians (6.4%) and non-Hispanic whites (5.9%).

Blacks and American Indians/Alaska Natives “face continued difficulty in accessing the transplant waitlist, primarily because of socioeconomic factors,” the authors noted in an online report in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. “Hispanics, Asians, and Pacific Islanders encounter delays from the waitlist, which may be adversely influenced by regional organ availability, linguistic isolation, and perhaps cultural isolation.”

The study, which was led by Yoshio N. Hall, MD, of the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues included 503,090 non-elderly U.S. adults.

From the April 01, 2011 Issue of Renal and Urology News