Ethnic Minorities

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Ethnic Minorities are Severely Under-Represented in the Registry

Bone marrow donations must be matched to very specific genetic markers which are overwhelmingly more likely to appear in donors of the same race/ethnicity1. Due to the low numbers of minorities registered as donors, patients from ethnic minority groups have a significantly harder time locating a suitable donor.

The likelihood of a caucasian patient finding a suitable donor in the bone marrow registry is 80%. The likelihood of a minority patient finding a suitable donor in the bone marrow registry is 30% or lower, depending on the specific ethnicity.2

While it's difficult to know exactly what causes this disparity, we have some guesses.

National Registry of Potential Marrow/Stem Cell Donors (2009)3

Click on the categories with the "(+)" symbol to see specific ethnic breakdowns, where available.

Donors Registered
Percentage of Total
Number of Transplants
Caucasian
 5,408,623 73.0% 14,104
Black or African American
 559,972 7.6% 876
Asian American Total (+)
 532,006 7.2% 531
South Asian
 139,460 1.9% 25
Unspec. Asian/Pacific Islander
 95,093 1.3% 172
Chinese
 84,284 1.1% 56
Korean
 67,913 0.9% 51
Filipino (Philipino)
 43,437 0.6% 55
Other Southeast Asian
 36,400 0.5% 49
Japanese
 32,639 0.4% 112
Vietnamese
 16,967 0.2% 11
Multiple Asian/Pacific Islander
 15,813 0.2% --
Hispanic
 386,549 5.2% 766
Multiple Race
 219,367 3.0% --
Unknown
 132,606 1.8% 970
American Indian/Alaska Native
 83,739 1.1% 85
Decline to Specify
 43,696 0.7% 265
Other
 30,072 0.4% 209
National Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
 10,682 0.1% 21
Source: helpingtami.org: The Need for Ethnic Marrow Donors is Urgent

Footnotes

  1. "The Need for Donors." http://marrow.org/Get_Involved/Grow_the_Registry/The_Need_for_Donors.aspx
  2. From http://helpingtami.org/asian_stem_cell_transplant_ethnicity.html.
  3. It's difficult to get timely registry numbers due to the massive amount of coordination required between hospitals, organizations, bone marrow transplant facilities, etc. Compilation of numbers and statistics can take a year or two.