Learning About Kidney Transplant With Kidney Transplant Statistics for the United States in 2009

Learning About Kidney Transplant With Kidney Transplant Statistics for the United States in 2009
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Transplant Statistics

The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients reports a total of 16,830 kidney transplants in the United States in 2009. Because each person has two kidneys, the number of living donors for kidney transplants exceeds that of living donors for liver transplants and other organ transplant procedures. Out of the 16,830 transplants, 10,442 used deceased donor organs and 6,388 used living donor organs. The waitlist for kidney transplant is very high, with a total of 80,559 people on the waiting list at the beginning of 2009. At the end of 2009, there were a total of 86,071 people on the waiting list. 34,091 people registered for kidney transplants during 2009.

Recipient Characteristics

Recipient characteristics for kidney transplant vary based on whether they received their kidneys from living donors or deceased donors. Of those who received a kidney from a living donor, 66.3 percent were Caucasian, 13.7 percent were African-American and 14.7 percent were Hispanic or Latino. Only 4.4 percent of the patients who received kidneys from living donors were Asian. Older people tend to receive kidney transplants more often than young people. Only 0.3 percent of the patients who received living donor kidney transplants in 2009 were under the age of 2. Children aged 2 to 11 years made up 2.2 percent of all living donor transplants, while children ages 12 to 17 made up 2.8 percent of all living donor kidney transplants. The group with the highest transplant rate was adults aged 50 to 64, accounting for 34.3 percent of living donor transplants.

The kidney transplant statistics for transplants involving deceased donors vary from those for living donors. Only 45.6 percent of the recipients were Caucasian, while African-Americans totaled 32.4 percent of the patients receiving transplants from cadaver donors. Patients aged 50 to 64 years also had more transplants of this type than those in any other age group, accounting for 41.8 percent of the kidney transplants from cadaver donors.

Survival

Studying kidney transplant statistics in relation to survival after one month, one year and three years provides a clearer picture of how successful kidney transplants are at improving longevity and patient quality of life. The statistics for survival differ between adults and children, as children typically have fewer medical problems to consider after transplant. Survival statistics for this type of transplant are high compared to the survival rates for other types of organ transplants. The patient survival rate for adults after one month was 99.34 percent in 2009. The survival rate declined slightly to 96.90 percent after one year and fell to 91.37 percent after three years. The survival rates for patients under the age of 18 remained above 90 percent at one month, one year and three years, with the three-year survival rate of 97.86 percent.

References

Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients: Patient Survival After Transplant (Kidney)

MedlinePlus: Kidney Transplantation