Clive O. Callender

Correlates of support for organ donation among three ethnic groups.

Telephone interviews about organ donation were conducted with 4880 white respondents, 634 African–American respondents and 566 Hispanic respondents. Forty‐three percent (42.9%) of whites, 31.2% of Hispanics and 22.6% of African–Americans reported that they were willing to donate their organs after their death (p<0.001). Logistic regression analysis revealed three significant correlates of willingness to donate across all ethnic groups: having had a family discussion about end‐of‐life issues; the belief that a doctor does all he or she can to save a life before pursuing donation; and concerns about surgical ‘disfigurement’ of a relative’s body after donation. Concerns in relation to body disfigurement were more prevalent among African–American and Hispanic respondents (p<0.001) than among white respondents. Public education should: a) stress the need for family communication about end‐of‐life issues including organ donation; b) underline the fact that donation is considered only after all efforts to save the life of the patient are exhausted; and c) reassure minorities that the body of the donor is treated respectfully and not disfigured.

Perceived stress and eating behaviors in a community-based sample of African Americans

Previous studies have reported that psychological stress is associated with greater food consumption, particularly consumption of high fat foods. We are unaware of any studies that have examined stress-induced eating among African Americans (AAs). The goals of the current study were to examine the relationship between perceived stress and high fat eating behaviors in a sample of AAs, to examine whether this relationship is stronger among overweight and obese participants, and to examine whether haphazard meal planning mediates the relationship between perceived stress and high fat eating behaviors. One hundred fifty-nine adults from a metropolitan area completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Eating Behaviors Pattern Questionnaire (EBPQ), a demographic questionnaire, and body mass was assessed with BMI. Perceived stress was associated with haphazard planning and emotional eating, but not related to other high fat eating domains in the overall sample. These findings held for overweight and obese participants with the addition of snacking on sweets. High fat eating behaviors were not mediated by haphazard meal planning. These findings are consistent with other studies which demonstrate a link between stress and eating. Long-term interventions for high fat consumption and obesity should include an examination of perceived stress among AAs.

A national minority transplant program for increasing donation rates

Since 1982, our group efforts demonstrated statistically significant improvements in minority donation rates which have applicability to all minority populations. As we continue to reach out to the various ethnic communities, we must listen to the needs of the community understanding that all ethnic communities have various beliefs and cultural barriers that will need to be addressed. For instance, the African-American population revealed the previously mentioned five obstacles to donation. The Hispanic population has revealed relatively the same fears to donation as the African-American population. In addition, the tribes within the Native-American population each have their own belief systems which will have to be addressed appropriately. The fears and obstacles toward donation within the Asians and Pacific Islanders and the Alaska Native groups are being defined. However, initial research reveals that all of the minority groups have very similar, if not the same, fears that were identified with the initial focus group in 1978. This simple methodology that has been established can ultimately help achieve the overall desired goal--an increase in minority donation rates.

Minority Organ Donation: The Power of an Educated Community

BACKGROUND In 1978 in Washington, DC, we became aware of the scarcity of minority donors, especially African Americans. STUDY DESIGN From then until now, 4 decades later, we have been involved in a grass roots effort emphasizing community education and empowerment combined with the use of mass media, which has increased minority donation rates exponentially. This program was initiated with a

Effect of donor ethnicity on kidney survival in different recipient pairs: an analysis of the OPTN/UNOS database.

500 grant from Howard University and was subsequently funded by National Institutes of Health grants and other funding totaling more than

Coping With Perceived Racism: A Significant Factor in the Development of Obesity in African American Women?

10 million between 1993 and 2008. RESULTS Between 1990 and 2008, minority donations percentages have doubled (15% to 30%). African-American organ donors per million (ODM) have quadrupled from 8 ODM to 53 ODM between 1982 and 2008. CONCLUSIONS The investment of

Blacks as Donors for Transplantation : Suboptimal Outcomes Overcome by Transplantation Into Other Minorities

10 million may seem substantial when we look at the cost-to-benefit ratio associated with the cost savings of

Dispositional depression and hostility are associated with inflammatory markers of cardiovascular disease in African Americans

135,000 per donor. But it is small when compared with the more than

The Influence of Coping With Perceived Racism and Stress on Lipid Levels in African Americans

200 million saved by kidney donors alone, which is associated with the expected increase in the percentage of minority donors to 35% by 2010, or the equivalent of 1,750 minority donors.

Relationships among Blood Pressure, Triglycerides and Verbal Learning in African Americans

BACKGROUND Previous multivariate analysis performed between April 1, 1994, and December 31, 2000 from the Organ Procurement Transplant Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS) database has shown that kidneys from black donors were associated with lower graft survival. We compared graft and patient survival of different kidney donor-to-recipient ethnic combinations to see if this result still holds on a recent cohort of US kidney transplants. METHODS We included 72,495 recipients of deceased and living donor kidney alone transplants from 2001 to 2005. A multivariate Cox regression method was used to analyze the effect of donor-recipient ethnicity on graft and patient survival within 5 years of transplant, and to adjust for the effect of other donor, recipient, and transplant characteristics. Results are presented as hazard ratios (HR) with the 95% confidence limit (CL) and P values. RESULTS Adjusted HRs of donor-recipient patient survival were: white to white (1); and white to black (1.22; P = .001). Graft survival HRs were black to black (1.40; P <.001); black to white (1.35; P <.001); black to Hispanic (0.87; P = .18); and black to Asian (0.69; P =.05). SUMMARY Black donor kidneys are associated with significantly lower graft survival when transplanted into whites or blacks and are only associated with lower patient survival when these kidneys are transplanted into white recipients. The graft and patient survival rates for Asian and Latino/Hispanic recipients, however, were not affected by donor ethnicity. This analysis underscores the need for research to better understand the reasons for these disparities and how to improve the posttransplant graft survival rates of black kidney recipients.