Regional Nephrology and Transplant Unit, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast, United Kingdom.
Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
Transpl Int. 2023 Apr 21;36:11139. doi: 10.3389/ti.2023.11139. eCollection 2023.
Living donor transplantation is the optimal treatment for suitable patients with end-stage kidney disease. There are particular advantages for older individuals in terms of elective surgery, timely transplantation, and early graft function. Yet, despite the superiority of living donor transplantation especially for this cohort, older patients are significantly less likely to access this treatment modality than younger age groups. However, given the changing population demographic in recent decades, there are increasing numbers of older but otherwise healthy individuals with kidney disease who could benefit from living donor transplantation. The complex reasons for this inequity of access are explored, including conscious and unconscious age-related bias by healthcare professionals, concerns relating to older living donors, ethical anxieties related to younger adults donating to aging patients, unwillingness of potential older recipients to consider living donation, and the relevant legislation. There is a legal and moral duty to consider the inequity of access to living donor transplantation, recognising both the potential disparity between chronological and physiological age in older patients, and benefits of this treatment for individuals as well as society.
活体捐赠移植是治疗终末期肾病患者的最佳选择。对于年龄较大的患者,活体捐赠移植在择期手术、及时移植和早期移植物功能方面具有特殊优势。然而,尽管活体捐赠移植特别是对于这一年龄组具有优越性,但与年轻年龄组相比,老年患者接受这种治疗方式的可能性要小得多。然而,鉴于近几十年来人口结构的变化,越来越多的年龄较大但其他方面健康的肾病患者可能受益于活体捐赠移植。本文探讨了这种获得机会不平等的复杂原因,包括医疗保健专业人员有意识和无意识的与年龄相关的偏见、对老年活体供者的担忧、与年轻成年人向老年患者捐赠相关的伦理焦虑、潜在老年受者不愿意考虑活体捐赠,以及相关立法。有法律和道德义务考虑活体捐赠移植的获得机会不平等问题,既要认识到老年患者在年龄和生理年龄之间存在潜在差异,也要认识到这种治疗方法对个人和社会的益处。