Emory University researchers have found that Black children with kidney disease are less likely than White children with kidney disease to get a transplant before they need to go on dialysis. Examining cases in the U.S. Renal Data System from 2000 to 2008, the researchers found that White children were 58 percent more likely to have had preemptive transplants than Black children.
The data also showed that 79 percent of White children who had a transplant had a living donor. For Blacks, the figure was 49 percent.
The research found that 9.7 percent of all kidney failure patients under the age of 21 died. Black patients without health insurance were 59 percent more likely to die than White patients.
