Kidney Equity in Access Report updated

Published on: Monday, August 21, 2017

The Equity in Access Report for deceased donor kidney transplants has been updated as of August 2017.  Figure 1 suggests that waiting list candidates continue to have more equitable access to deceased donor kidney transplants since implementation of the kidney allocation system (KAS) in late 2014.  Disparities in access remain, however, and are largely attributable to differences in the Donation Service Area where the candidate is listed, as well as the candidate’s blood type and calculated panel reactive antibody (CPRA) profile. 

The report uses a recently developed metric to assess how the OPTN system for allocating deceased donor kidneys is meeting the needs of transplant candidates.  Similar methodology will be used in the near future to assess equity in other organ allocation systems. 

UNOS researchers developed the methodology with support from the OPTN contract (Health Resources and Services Administration contract 234-2005-37011C).  They summarized their findings in a presentation at the American Transplant Congress.*  An initial report summary was presented to the OPTN/UNOS Board of Directors at its December 2016 meeting.

* Stewart, Darren; Wilk, Amber; Cherikh, Wida; Harper, Ann; Urban, Read; Klassen, David; Edwards, Erick; "A New Methodology for Measuring and Monitoring Equity in Access to Deceased Donor Kidney Transplants", American Transplant Congress, Chicago, 2017.