Impact of race and gender on live kidney donation.
BACKGROUND
African Americans (AA) and women are less likely to receive a live kidney donor (LKD) transplant than Caucasians or men. Reasons for non-donation are poorly understood.


METHODS
A retrospective review of 541 unsuccessful LKD was performed to explore reasons for non-donation and to assess for racial and/or gender differences.


RESULTS
We identified 138 AA and 385 Caucasian subjects who volunteered but did not successfully donate. Females (58.2%) were more likely to be excluded than males due to reduced renal function (glomerular filtration rate < 85 mL/min, 7.9% vs. 0.9%, p < 0.0001) or failure to complete the evaluation (6.4% vs. 1.8%, p = 0.01). AA were more commonly excluded due to obesity (body mass index >or= 32 kg/m(2); 30.4% AA vs. 16.6% Caucasian, p = 0.0005) or failure to complete the evaluation (12.3% AA vs. 1.8% Caucasian, p < 0.0001) whereas Caucasians were more often excluded due to kidney stones (1.5% AA vs. 7.3% Caucasian, p = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Significantly different reasons for exclusion of LKD exist between potential Caucasian and AA LKD, particularly among women. Among the differences that we observed are potentially modifiable barriers to donation including obesity and failure to complete the donor evaluation. A further understanding of these barriers may help point to strategies for more effective recruitment and successful LKD.
Reeves-Daniel
A
A
Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. areeves@wfubmc.edu
Adams
P L
PL
Daniel
K
K
Assimos
D
D
Westcott
C
C
Alcorn
S G
SG
Rogers
J
J
Farney
A C
AC
Stratta
R J
RJ
Hartmann
E L
EL
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate; D006801:Humans; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001741:Black or African American