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African-Americans More Likely To Donate Kidney To Family Member

Discussion in 'Organ transplantation' started by Egyptian Doctor, Oct 19, 2011.

  1. Egyptian Doctor

    Egyptian Doctor Moderator Verified Doctor

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    Family matters, especially when it comes to African-Americans and living kidney
    donation. In a study conducted at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center,
    researchers found that African-Americans donate almost exclusively to family
    members for living kidney transplants, as compared to Caucasians.

    The retrospective study, published in the September/October online issue of the
    journal Clinical Transplantation, compared medical records of all former
    successful kidney donors at Wake Forest Baptist between Jan. 1, 1991, and Dec.
    31, 2009. The purpose of the study was to characterize differences in donor and
    recipient relationships between African-American and Caucasian living kidney
    donors.

    "African-Americans are overrepresented in the dialysis population
    and they are underrepresented among those who receive living donor kidney
    transplants, the best option for long-term treatment of kidney disease," said
    Amber Reeves-Daniel, D.O., lead author of the study and medical director of the
    Living Kidney Donor Program at Wake Forest Baptist. "The more we can understand
    what contributes to people's willingness to donate one of their kidneys, the
    better job we can do of educating potential living donors about the need and
    allay fears about the risks."

    The study sample consisted of 73 African-American and 324 Caucasian living kidney donors.
    African-American donors were more likely to be related to the transplant recipient than Caucasians.
    Individuals were considered to have a familial relationship if a blood relation
    existed or if there was a familial relationship, including in-law
    relationships.

    In addition, the study found that African-American donors
    were more likely to donate to their parents compared to Caucasians, and were
    slightly less likely to participate in parent-to-child donation.

    By comparison, Caucasian donors were more likely to be unrelated to the recipient
    than African-American donors. Reeves-Daniel said one of the most surprising
    findings was that the majority of African- American kidney donors were men and
    younger than the white donors. "Adult African- American dialysis patients are
    typically younger than white dialysis patients and this may explain, in part,
    why African-American children are more often able to donate to their parents,"
    she said.

    Future studies exploring cultural differences and family
    dynamics may provide targeted recruitment strategies for both African-American
    and Caucasian living kidney donors, Reeves-Daniel said. Unrelated living kidney
    transplantation appears to be a potential growth area for living kidney donation
    in African-Americans, she said.

    Source : African-Americans More Likely To Donate Kidney To Family Member
     

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