Fact Sheets
STATISTICAL BACKGROUNDER
Living Donor Age
|
1990 |
2005 |
18-34 |
45.3% |
32.0% |
35-49 |
40.0% |
46.9% |
50-64 |
13.1% |
20.25% |
65+ |
1.2% |
8% |
Living Donor Gender
|
1990 |
2005 |
Females |
55.7% |
44.3% |
Males |
58.7%; |
41.3% |
Living Donor Race
|
1990 |
2005 |
White |
75.5% |
69.6% |
Black |
10.4% |
13.0% |
Hispanic |
10.3% |
12.75% |
Asian |
1.5% |
3.3% |
Organ |
Number of |
Number of Patients |
Kidney |
15,209 25,953 |
65,388 |
KEY FACTS
- More than 90,000 U.S. patients are currently waiting for an organ transplant; nearly 4,000 new patients are added to the waiting list each month.
- Every day, 19 people die while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ, such as a heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, lung or bone marrow.
- Because of the lack of available donors in this country, 3,198 kidney patients, 1,517 liver patients, 360 heart patients and 326 lung patients died in 2005 while waiting for life-saving organ transplants.
- Acceptable organ donors can range in age from newborn to 65 years or more. People who are 65 years of age or older may be acceptable donors, particularly of corneas, skin, bone and for total body donation.
- An estimated 12,000 people who die each year meet the criteria for organ donation, but less than half of that number become actual organ donors.
- Donor organs are matched to waiting recipients by a national computer registry, called the National Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). This computer registry is operated by an organization known as the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which is located in Richmond, Virginia.
- By signing a Donor Card, an individual indicates his or her wish to be a donor. However, at the time of death, the person's next-of-kin may be asked to sign a consent form for donation. It is important for people who wish to be organ and tissue donors to tell their family about this decision so that their wishes will be honored at the time of death. A large percentage of potential donors never become donors because family members’ refusals to give consent may be honored.
CONTACT: Ellie Schlam / Eric Davis
ON-SITE PRESS ROOM: (502) 815-6701 or (502) 815-6702
MOBILE : (516) 286-4035 / (612)202-9407
EMAIL: ellies@kidney.org / eric@habermaninc.com
