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2w ago

OPTN Lookback to Fix Race-Based Kidney Test Boosted Black Transplants

A new JAMA Internal Medicine analysis ties an OPTN-ordered wait-time lookback to measurable gains for Black kidney candidates with no detected losses for others.

FILE - Surgical instruments and supplies lay on a table during a kidney transplant surgery at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C., June 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Molly Riley, File)
FILE - A sign hangs from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Aug. 18, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, file)
Meharry Medical College students Emmanuel Kotey, center, and Teresa Belledent, right, watch as the liver and kidneys are removed from an organ donor June 15, 2023, in Jackson, Tenn. They’re part of a novel pilot program to encourage more Black and other minority doctors-to-be to get involved in the transplant field, increasing the trust of patients of color. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Overview

  • More than 21,000 Black transplant candidates received wait-time credits, with a median gain of about 1.7 years, after centers reexamined records for race-inflated eGFR results.
  • Black transplant rates rose by 5.3 per 1,000 listings following the policy change, while rates for non-Black candidates did not significantly change.
  • Fewer than one-third of eligible Black candidates obtained modifications, highlighting late diagnoses and uneven capacity across centers to retrieve historical lab data.
  • The analysis covered U.S. transplants from January 2022 through June 2025, following 2021 guideline changes eliminating race from eGFR and OPTN’s December 2023 mandate for wait-time corrections.
  • Researchers call for standardized implementation, tracking of longer-term outcomes, and preservation of race and ethnicity data in national renal databases to monitor equity.