Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Dec;36(12):e14814.
doi: 10.1111/ctr.14814. Epub 2022 Sep 26.

Sex and gender disparity in kidney transplantation: Historical and future perspectives

Maria Aurora Posadas Salas  1 , Elizabeth Chua  2 , Ana Rossi  3 , Silvi Shah  4 , Goni Katz-Greenberg  5 , Lisa Coscia  6 , Deirdre Sawinski  7 , Deborah Adey  8
Affiliations
Review

Sex and gender disparity in kidney transplantation: Historical and future perspectives

Maria Aurora Posadas Salas et al. Clin Transplant. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Sex and gender disparity exist in various stages of kidney transplantation. Females were found to be less likely to be referred for kidney transplant, complete pre-transplant evaluation, be placed on the waitlist, and receive a kidney transplant compared to their male counterparts. Interestingly, females comprise the majority of living kidney donors. This review explores the biological and psychosocial factors that contribute to sex and gender disparity in kidney transplantation and proposes ways to address the disparity.

Keywords: disparities; kidney (allograft) function/dysfunction; kidney transplantation: living donor.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None / nothing to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Kidney waitlist additions in 2021 by sex (A) and kidney transplants performed in 2021 by sex (B).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Kidney waitlist additions and transplants by sex.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Kidney transplants in 2021 by sex and region.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Living donors by sex.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Kidney graft and patient survival by sex. Source: SRTR transplants performed 2008–2015.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Melk A, Babitsch B, Borchert-Morlins B, et al. Equally interchangeable? How sex and gender affect transplantation. Transplantation. 2019;103(6):1094–1110. - PubMed
    1. Laprise C, Cole K, Sridhar VS, et al. Sex and gender considerations in transplant research: a scoping review. Transplantation. 2019;103(9):e239. - PubMed
    1. Zaldana A, Barhouma S, Rocque B, et al. Racial and sex representation in clinical trials: where are we in abdominal organ transplantation? Am J Transplant. 2021;21(10):3491–3493. - PubMed
    1. Bikbov B, Perico N, Remuzzi G, on behalf of the GBDGDEG. Disparities in chronic kidney disease prevalence among males and females in 195 countries: analysis of the global burden of disease 2016. Study Nephron. 2018;139(4):313–318. - PubMed
    1. Carrero JJ, Hecking M, Chesnaye NC, Jager KJ. Sex and gender disparities in the epidemiology and outcomes of chronic kidney disease. Nat Rev Nephrol. 2018;14(3):151–164. - PubMed