Socioeconomic Status and Ethnicity of Deceased Donor Kidney Recipients Compared to Their Donors |
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| Authors: | J. T. Adler J. A. Hyder N. Elias L. L. Nguyen J. F. Markmann F. L. Delmonico H. Yeh |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA;2. Division of Transplant Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA;3. Department of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN;4. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA;5. Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA |
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| Abstract: | ![]()
Public perception and misperceptions of socioeconomic disparities affect the willingness to donate organs. To improve our understanding of the flow of deceased donor kidneys, we analyzed socioeconomic status (SES) and racial/ethnic gradients between donors and recipients. In a retrospective cohort study, traditional demographic and socioeconomic factors, as well as an SES index, were compared in 56,697 deceased kidney donor and recipient pairs transplanted between 2007 and 2012. Kidneys were more likely to be transplanted in recipients of the same racial/ethnic group as the donor (p < 0.001). Kidneys tended to go to recipients of lower SES index (50.5% of the time, p < 0.001), a relationship that remained after adjusting for other available markers of donor organ quality and SES (p < 0.001). Deceased donor kidneys do not appear to be transplanted from donors of lower SES to recipients of higher SES; this information may be useful in counseling potential donors and their families regarding the distribution of their organ gifts. |
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| Keywords: | ethics and public policy health services and outcomes research kidney transplantation/nephrology organ procurement and allocation ethics ethnicity/race |
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