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Kidney Week

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Abstract: TH-PO884

Living Kidney Donation in the United States from 2017 to 2022

Session Information

Category: Transplantation

  • 2102 Transplantation: Clinical

Authors

  • Al Ammary, Fawaz, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States
  • Troutt, Hayden Rock, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States
  • Crews, Deidra C., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
  • Muzaale, Abimereki, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Background

Living kidney donation has not recovered to pre-pandemic rates. To inform the national efforts for increasing living kidney donation rates in the United States, we sought to characterize post-pandemic trends to guide future interventions.

Methods

We studied a US national registry (SRTR) of 35,511 living kidney donors from 2017 to 2022 (median age [IQR], 44 years [34-54], 64% female, 71.8% White, 15.2% Hispanic, 8.4% Black, 4.6% Asian donors). We used Poisson regression models to describe changes in the number of donors in 2020-2022 vs. 2017-2019 by donor-recipient relationship and race/ethnicity.

Results

Among biologically related donors aged <34, 35-4, ≥50 years the number of White donors aged <34, 35-49 and ≥50 decreased by 13%, 13%, and 18%, and Black donors aged <34, 35-49 years decreased by 27% and 22. Among unrelated donors <35, 35-49, ≥50 White donors decreased by 13% across age groups and Black donors <34 decreased by 49%. Among spousal donors aged 35-49 and ≥50 White donors decreased by 21% and 23% and Black donors decreased by 44% and 38% Among kidney-paired donors White donors ≥50 increased by 18%, and Hispanic donors aged <34 and ≥50 increased by 31% and 65%. No significant changes were observed for Asian donors across these described subgroups.

Conclusion

The decline in living kidney donation in the wake of the pandemic was driven by White and Black donor subgroups, warrantying targeted efforts to uncover what new barriers may be responsible for these observations.

Observed number of living kidney donors in the United States from 2017 to 2022, by donor-recipient relationship and race/ethnicity

Funding

  • NIDDK Support