Pain barrier Girls and black children at back of kidney transplant queue

SICK girls are less likely to be put on the kidney transplant waiting list compared to boys, according to Bristol researchers.

- Ella PICKOVER

Academics found that some children in need of a kidney transplant are facing inequalities in their care.

Black children are also less likely to be put on the transplant waiting list, as are those from more deprived backgrounds, researchers from the University of Bristol found.

Researchers set out to examine whether inequalities exist in access to kidney transplantation among children in the UK by analysing the UK Renal Registry and NHS Blood and Transplant data between 1996 and 2020.

They found that girls were 12% less likely to be put on a transplant waiting list compared to boys.

Children from the poorest backgrounds were 33% less likely to be put on the waiting list compared to those from the wealthiest.

And black children were 19% less likely to be put on the waiting list compared to their white peers.