Racial Disparities Narrowing For Kidney Recipients

HealthDay (11/9, Preidt) reports, "The reversal of a kidney allocation policy has improved black patients' chances of receiving a new organ from a deceased donor," according to a study published in the November issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. "Until 2003, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) gave priority to potential recipients who had a genetic match with the deceased donor in terms of HLA-B, an antigen involved in the body's immune response to foreign tissue. HLA-B similarity tends to be race-based." After examining data on approximately 179,000 patients on the list for a kidney transplant list, researchers "found that blacks were 37 percent less likely than whites to receive a DDKT before the policy reversal in 2003, compared with 23 percent less likely after the change."