Title: Organ Donation FAQs | Organ Donor
Headings: Organ Donation FAQs
Organ Donation FAQs
Content: The number of patients now on the waiting list and other data are available from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network . Why do minorities have a higher need for transplants? More than half of all people on the transplant waiting list are from a racial or ethnic minority group. This is largely because some diseases that cause end-stage organ failure are more common in these populations than in the general population. For example, African Americans, Asians, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics/Latinos are 3 times more likely than Whites to suffer from end-stage renal (kidney) disease, often as the result of high blood pressure. Native Americans are 4 times more likely than Whites to suffer from diabetes. An organ transplant is sometimes the best—or only—option for saving a life.