Why are Black patients more likely to die waiting for a #HeartTransplant? What happens AFTER a patient gets listed for a 💗? 👇🏾 our paper in @JAMA_current jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…
After a patient is listed for a heart transplant, a computer algorithm matches patients with donors. The match order is related to many factors: namely illness severity, distance from the donor, Blood type, size/weight, and prespecified factors. unos.org/transplant/how….
When the patient matches, the transplant team must quickly determine whether or not the donation will help extend the patient’s life. ⚫️ normal heart function ⚫️ right size ⚫️ risk to patient ⚫️ travel distance to donor
To understand decisions, we made it a little simpler. We examined only donated hearts that were ultimately accepted “good hearts” We examined the “real time” combinations of patient, donor, and offer level factors with each match.
We examined the number of offers until 1st acceptance of a heart. We found that the number of offers until acceptance was lowest for White women and highest for Black men. jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…
@KBreathettMD @MinnowWalsh @WilcoxHeart @UNOSNews @ShashankSinhaMD @Jcontreras75 @NMHheartdoc @RyanTedfordMD @MinorityHealth @nih_nhlbi Sobering results. What are the likely explanations for these findings? Are they structural or social/psychological or medical? Any guesses?