A new study has found that most people in the United States are not suitable kidney donors. Why? Because most of them are not healthy enough, nor do they have the financial capability.
Lead study author Dr. Anthony Bleyer said that more than 75 percent of the U.S. population are not able to donate.
There has been a national kidney shortage for years, HealthDay News reported. Bleyer does not believe, however, there have been any studies to assess the kidney donor pool.
Bleyer 'modeled [the study] it after what a transplant center would take.' He took data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. He then took the data to determine which people between the ages of 21 and 70 would be eligible donors.
Those who were ineligible were obese, excessive drinkers, had diabetes, skin cancer, high blood pressure, HIV, coronary artery disease or congestive heart failure. He also disqualified those who made less than $25,000 a year. Making this amount would mean that people would not be able to take off work two to three weeks to recover from surgery.
After Bleyer took all these factors into consideration, 68 percent of the U.S. population were not able to donate a kidney. Once he factored in smokers and people who become short of breath that number rose to 75 percent.
This is not to mention the risks for the donor. Another recent study showed that donors often give birth to children with birth defects, Reuters reported.
'I think the take-home message is, as a population, the healthier we are, the better we would be able to deal with many health problems, and the more donors there would be,' Bleyer said.
About 100,000 people in the U.S. are in need of a kidney transplant. In 2013, Only 17,000 people received transplants. Only 6,000 of those transplants were from living people.
