Purpose: The opportunities for living kidney donation vary greatly among socioeconomic and racial groups. We reviewed our series of living donors to evaluate donor relationships in various groups.
Materials and methods: Donor and recipient records for 1000 patients were reviewed. An additional 857 records of potential recipients presenting with a donor were analyzed. We compared the relationship of the recipient to initial donor and individual who underwent nephrectomy.
Results: There were 693 CC and 263 AA live kidney donors. In the AA population donors were first-degree 71%, second-degree 10%, and unrelated 19%. In the CC population donors were first-degree 57%, second-degree 6%, and unrelated 37% (p < 0.0001 for unrelated CC vs. AA). Spousal donation is more common in CC donors (13%) than AA donors (6%), p = 0.001. Donation from child to parent is more common in AA (33%) than CC donors (15%), p < 0.0001. AA recipients predominantly identified a child as a donor in 63% and 48% were cleared for donation. In contrast, 69% of CC recipients identified a spouse as a donor yet only 23% became donors, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001.
Conclusions: There is a higher incidence of unrelated donors in the caucasian population, vs. first degree relatives often being living donors in the AA population.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.