A recent study has revealed that racial disparities in living donor kidney transplants have not improved over an 11-year period. The study, conducted by researchers from the Duke University School of Medicine, found that there was “no improvement” in living transplant rates between Black and white adults. The study included data from U.S. transplant centers that performed at least 12 living donor kidney transplants annually between January 2008 and December 2018. The researchers found that Black patients made up 33.1% of waitlisted adults but received only 14.1% of living transplants. The study highlights the need for further research to identify strategies that can improve access to living donor kidney transplants and address racial disparities.
The findings also showed that center-level factors played a role in the disparities. The estimated yearly center-level rate ratios between Black and white patients ranged from 0.0557 in 2008 to 0.771 in 2018. Additionally, the study revealed that participation in national programs, such as the paired exchange and voucher programs, may help mitigate racial inequities in living donor kidney transplants. The researchers emphasized the importance of identifying barriers specific to each transplant center and implementing tailored interventions and goal setting to achieve racial equity in living donor kidney transplants.
