OPTN/SRTR 2020 Annual Data Report: Living Donor Collective

Area of Science:

• Transplantation Medicine
• Public Health
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• Living donation is crucial for kidney and liver transplants in the U.S.
• Growth in living donor transplants has stagnated over the past decade.
• Demand for organs significantly outpaces supply.

Purpose of the Study:

• Establish a national registry for living organ donor candidates and donors.
• Acquire lifetime follow-up data on living donors and candidates.
• Identify barriers to living donation and assess long-term risks.
• Understand factors influencing candidate approval and variations in practices across transplant centers.

Main Methods:

• The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) directed the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) to create the registry.
• A pilot program ran from June 2018 to September 2020.
• Data collection expanded to more sites in September 2020.
• The study describes candidates registered from June 2018 through December 2020, with separate data for kidney and liver donors.

Main Results:

• The registry collected data on living donor candidates evaluated at U.S. transplant programs.
• Data were analyzed for kidney and liver donor candidates from June 2018 to December 2020.
• Not all participating programs submitted data for the entire period.

Conclusions:

• The registry provides essential data for understanding living donation.
• Further analysis will inform strategies to increase living donation and improve patient outcomes.
• Lifetime follow-up data will be critical for assessing long-term donor health and transplant success.