The Impact of Race and Socioeconomic Status on Transplant Accessibility and Outcomes: A Literature Review

Abstract

Due to the high demand but low supply of donor organs, issues of organ allocation arise as patients on the waitlist are prioritized to determine who gets the next available organ. This literature review will review articles related to the racial and socioeconomic disparities in organ transplants and how they affect transplant access and outcomes. Patients of Black and minority (Hispanic and Native American) races had significantly lower rates of organ transplants as well as worse transplant outcomes including graft failure and post-operative complications (Bryce et al., 2009). Similarly, patients from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds (i.e. poverty or lack of private/commercial insurance) had lower rates of organ transplant surgeries but there has been no significant research done on the effect that SES specifically has on transplant outcomes. Further directions for future research should be investigating the role of SES on transplant outcomes. The findings of this literature review highlight the need for measures to make organ allocation more equitable; this can be done by factoring in the social determinants of health (SDOH) when prioritizing potential organ recipients to compensate for race and SES decreasing accessibility to transplants.