No Difference in Rate of Survival for Children of Different Races Undergoing Liver Transplantation, but Long-Term Results Not as Good for African-Ameri...( Caucasian Asian/Pacific Islander or oth...),Health

Researchers found no difference in short-term survival in patient and graft, but they did find significant differences after two years. The center in which the transplant was performed accounted for some of the discrepancy, but after controlling for that, African-Americans were found to have a lower patient and graft survival rate compared to the other three groups. The authors found no explanation for this based on transplant center, payer, or disease severity pretransplantation.

The Mayo Clinic researchers were also surprised by the results. "Since our previous study has demonstrated that race had no effect on posttransplantation survival in select, academic centers in the US," said Young-Suk Lim, MD, PhD, "we had hypothesized that the different outcome after liver transplantation between races in US would disappear after stratification by centers. But, lower long-term posttransplantation outcome of African-American remained after multivariable adjustment for center, payer, or pretransplantation disease severity."

"Perhaps elucidating the differences between the pediatric and adult populations will allow us to understand the disparities that are seen in the adult population," said Dr. Becker. Dr. Lim is also looking to future studies to explain the racial disparity, "We are in the process of investigating the issue of center-specific effect a bit deeper. If the center is not the reason, further investigation into potential genetic differences may be warranted."

Abstract titles:

1. Racial disparities in patient survivals after pediatric liver transplantation

2. Relationship between recipient race and transplant predictors of outcome following liver transplantation

AASLD is the leading medical organization for advancing the science and practice of hepatology. Founded by physicians in 1950, AASLD's vision is to prevent and cure liver diseases. This year's Liver Meeting, he
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