title: Donor-recipient relationships in African American vs. Caucasian live kidney donors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the study was to characterize differences in donor and recipient relationships between African American (AA) and Caucasian living kidney donors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from all successful living kidney donors at a single institution between 1991 and 2009 were reviewed. Relationships between donor and recipient were categorized and between-group comparisons performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study sample consisted of 73 (18%) AA and 324 Caucasian living kidney donors. The distribution of donor-recipient relationships differed significantly between AA and Caucasians. AA donors were more likely to be related to the recipient (88% vs. 74%, p = 0.007) than Caucasians. AA donors were more likely to participate in child to parent donation and were less likely to participate in parent to child donation or to donate to unrelated individuals. Sibling and spousal donations were similar in both groups. Caucasian donors were more likely to be unrelated to the recipient than AA donors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Differences exist in donor-recipient relationships between AA and Caucasian living kidney donors. Future studies exploring cultural differences and family dynamics may provide targeted recruitment strategies for AA and Caucasian living kidney donors. Living unrelated kidney transplantation appears to be a potential growth area for living kidney donation in AA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. areeves@wfubmc.edu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reeves-Daniel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Assimos
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Westcott
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Hartmann
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Farney
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Stratta
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.forename: B I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Freedman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018454:Spouses; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*