Photo Credit: Ttsz

The neighborhood Social Deprivation Index (SDI) represents a useful tool for examining disparities in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), according to findings published in Liver Transplantation. Mounika Kanneganti, MD, and colleagues examined the impact of neighborhood-level social determinants of health (SDoH) on receipt of LDLT. They assessed 51,721 deceased donor liver transplantations (DDLT) and 4,026 LDLTs. Across 24 neighborhood-level SDoH measures, the SDI varied the most between the two transplant types. LDLT recipients had lower SDI (ie, less socioeconomic disadvantage) compared with DDLT recipients (median SDI, 37 vs 47; P<0.001). The median difference in SDI between LDLT and DDLT groups declined from 13 in 2005 to three in 2021 (P=0.003). In the final model, the SDI quintile was independently associated with transplant type (P<0.001) at a threshold SDI of approximately 40, above which increasing SDI was significantly associated with lower odds of LDLT (vs reference SDI, 1-20).