Recipient race does not influence waiting time for a cadaveric renal transplant--one organ procurement organization's...

There was no statistical significance to the differences in waiting time for cadaveric renal transplant by race. Whether for first transplant or second or greater, any differences in waiting time could not be accounted for by the recipient's race. CAUC made up 58% of the waiting list, 65% of the recipients, and 87% of the donors. The corresponding numbers for AA are: 38%, 29%, and 10%, respectively. More regional serum-sharing trays may be needed in order to expose recipients with high PRA to as many donors as possible in order to lessen their waiting time. It should be noted that fewer HLA mismatches occurred when donor and recipient race were identical. In light of this data, more study is needed to determine the relationship between donor and recipient race, corresponding HLA mismatches, and graft survival. If antigen-matching is found to increase graft survival, then an increase in minority donations will be required. Until that time, under the current allocation system and with the predominance of Caucasian donors, it is likely that Afro-Americans will continue to receive kidneys that have more HLA antigen mismatches than if Afro-Americans donated in numbers equivalent to their percentage of the waiting list.