African Americans, Other Minority Groups Fall Further Behind Whites In Organ Transplant Rates, JNMA Study Shows

1/22/2002

From: Reese Stone or Alisa Mosley, 202-347-1895, both of the National Medical Association

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 -- Whites experienced significantly greater organ transplantation rates than African Americans and other ethnic groups throughout the 1990s, and the reasons for the widening gap remain uncertain, according to a study published in the January issue of the Journal of the National Medical Association. Hong Xiao, Ph.D., assistant professor at Florida A&M University's College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, conducted the study, "A Trend Analysis of Organ Transplantation Among Racial or Ethnic Groups."

The National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 targeted inequitable allocation of organ transplants. To assess the law's impact, Xiao investigated heart, lung, liver and kidney transplantation rates in Caucasian, African American, Hispanic and Asian populations from 1988 to 1997. Xiao analyzed nationwide hospital discharge information from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's Nationwide Inpatient Sample.

Although all groups' transplantation rates were similar in 1988, Xiao found that rates for whites increased dramatically through 1994. However, research showed that African Americans, Hispanics and Asians saw significantly lower growth rates. By 1997, heart transplantation rates for Caucasians were more than five times greater than the rates for African Americans, Hispanics and Asians. Kidney transplant rates for whites after a decade were nearly nine times higher than rates for the other groups.

Despite governmental and medical community efforts to increase access to organ transplants, Xiao cautions, ethnic minorities' transplant rates are falling further behind their Caucasian counterparts'. The reasons for the growing gap are unclear, Xiao adds, and should prompt more research.

------ The National Medical Association is the oldest and largest professional organization representing the interests of African American physicians, with more than 25,000 members.