FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information:
Jenny Daigle | jdaigle@aopo.org
AOPO Statement on Kidney Assessment in Black Donors to Prevent Organ Nonuse
The Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) and its members partnered with researchers at Wake Forest University on a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify higher risk kidneys using genetic variants rather than race to predict transplant outcomes. Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) collaborated with Black donor families to authorize the donation of bio samples for the research, which would ultimately inform the families if they carried the genetic variant that increased their likelihood of kidney disease.
The study revealed new considerations within donor assessment as it relates to factors of race and quality of donated kidneys. The study found that the use of these factors in evaluating the organs generously donated by Black Americans has contributed to a rising number of those kidneys being declined for transplantation. This underscores a continued need for improved equity within our nation’s organ donation system.
AOPO is increasingly concerned about the growing rate of organs recovered for transplantation by OPOs going unused. Donated kidneys are in high demand, especially among Black Americans who are three times more likely than white Americans to develop kidney failure and comprise over 35% of all Americans suffering from end stage kidney disease. Of the more than 89,000 Americans currently waiting on a kidney transplant, 26,000, or approximately 30 percent, of those patients are Black.
AOPO and the OPO community are committed to improving the utilization of organs graciously donated by Black Americans, ensuring that every donation has the potential to save a life. Our community unanimously agrees that every patient deserves equitable health care and all unnecessary barriers within organ evaluation and quality review must be identified and addressed.
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About the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO)
The Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) is the not-for-profit trade association leading the nation’s organ donation community to save and improve lives through organ, eye, and tissue donation. Founded in 1984, AOPO advances organ donation and transplantation by driving continual improvement of the donation process, collaborating with stakeholders, and sharing successful practices with its 48 member OPOs. AOPO envisions a future where every opportunity for donation results in lives saved. For more information, please visit www.aopo.org.