Why should minorities be particularly concerned about organ and tissue donation?
Minorities suffer end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a very serious life-threatening kidney disease, much more frequently than whites. Asian American, and Hispanics are three times as likely as whites to develop ESRD; blacks are twice as likely. ESRD is treatable with dialysis but dialysis can result in a poor quality of life for the patient. The preferred treatment of ESRD is kidney transplantation. Transplantation offers the patient freedom from dialysis, to lead a more normal life and can successfully cure ESRD for many years. As with any transplant procedures, it is very important to assure a close match between donor and recipient blood types and genetic make-up. Members of racial and ethnic groups are usually more genetically similar to members of their own group than they are to others. It is important, therefore, to increase the minority donor pool so that good matches can be made as frequently as possible for minority patients.
