Study: Gender disparity exists in liver transplants

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have found that women are less likely to receive a liver transplant than men and more likely to die.

Posted 10:50 p.m. Nov 25, 2008 — Updated 11:26 p.m. Nov 25, 2008

DURHAM, N.C. — Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have found that women are less likely to receive a liver transplant than men and more likely to die despite an effort to correct biases in the allocation of organs.

Duke’s Dr. Cynthia Moylan lead research to look at the way donor livers are allocated.

The system was revamped in 2002 in hopes of eliminating disparities that had left more black and female patients waiting longer for a donor liver and dying more quickly.

“Many times we found that the process was biased by different physicians assessing a patient's liver disease differently,” Moylan said.

The study, which appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined the effects of implementing the MELD Score System (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease).

“With the use of the MELD score allocation system, we found that racial inequity has been greatly reduced,” Moylan said.

However, gender disparity remains, leaving women less likely to receive a transplant than men and more likely to die.

Moylan says there are several reasons for the racial disparity that once existed in liver allocation, but it's difficult to explain why gender disparity exists today.

“It's important that we make sure that these livers are allocated fairly,” she said said.

Liver transplant recipient Alice Jones Mayer said it took 10 weeks for her to get a new liver, but years later when she needed a second one, she had to wait for a year and a half.

Now she feels she can finally live her life.

“I actually feel great. I feel that I've crossed some threshold and I feel like I have an opportunity to live a full life,” Mayer said.

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