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Blacks awaiting a lungtransplant during a recent 10-year period were less likely to receive anew lung and more likelyto die or be removed from the transplant listthan whites, according to researchers.The findings, published in the second February issue of the AmericanJournal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, also showed thatblacks on the transplant list between 1995 and 2004 were more likely tolack private insurance, live in poorer neighborhoods, and have greatercardiovascular risk factors, such as diabetes and pulmonary hypertension.However, these factors did not account for the findings.These disparities are consistent with those observed among patientsawaiting kidney and liver transplantation and among patients with otheradvanced lung diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension andpulmonary fibrosis, lead researcher Dr. David Lederer, of ColumbiaUniversity Medical Center, said in a prepared statement. This finding wasindependent of age, lung function, cardiovascular risk factors, transplantcenter volume, type of health insurance coverage, and neighborhood povertylevel.The researchers assessed the 280 non-Hispanic black adults and 5,272non-Hispanic white adults diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease (COPD) or emphysema who were on the United Network for OrganSharing lung transplantation list between 1995 and 2004. The investigatorstracked the outcomes (death, transplantation, removal from the list orstill living) of those on the list and analyzed the results with respectto age, sex, disease severity, community poverty level and transplantcenter volume.While the organ allocation system in place during the study period hasbeen replaced with one that prioritizes patients based on the survivalbenefit of transplantation, Lederer said the effects of poor insurance andpoverty will likely still place blacks at increased risk for removal fromthe list or death.Also, researchers were surprised at the low number of blacks that evenmade the list. “Based on what we know about COPD, we expected that twiceas many black patients would have been put on the lung transplant waitinglist. Our findings point to significant barriers to accessing lungtransplantation for minorities,” Lederer said. “These findings shouldalert primary-care physicians and pulmonologists to consider referral ofblack patients with COPD for transplantation at the earliest signs ofadvanced disease.”The National Heart, Lung, and Blood has more about chronicobstructive pulmonary disease.

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