PRI Population Health Working Group

PRI Population Health Working Group

September 23rd - 2:00 pm

JD Daw and Ashton Verdery

 "The Ties that Transplant: Social Networks, Biomedical Capital, and the Living Kidney Donor Relationship Distribution"

Abstract: Living donor kidney transplantation is the optimal therapy for end-stage kidney disease, yet only about 15% of transplant candidates obtain one. One reason for this scant uptake may result from a novel social conundrum created by these medical advancements: whether to pursue an LDKT, and from whom to seek or accept a donation. A critical statistical clue to how transplant patients and their networks resolve this conundrum is the distribution of relationships between living kidney donors and recipients. Which relationships are over- and under-represented compared to their share of transplant candidate social networks, and what factors best explain these deviations? Using two original datasets on the social networks of kidney transplant candidates, we find that typical relationship quality best explains which relationship categories produce LKDs, but that which members of these categories become LKDs is a more complex mixture of relationship quality, biomedical capital (defined as ability to donate), and alter demographic attributes.

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Information: JD Daw (jddaw@psu.edu)