Loyola University Medical Center researchers are reporting one of the first studies to examine how patients and families are soliciting living kidney donors on Facebook.
Researchers examined 91 Facebook pages that were seeking kidney donations for patients ranging in age from 2 to 69.
Twelve percent of the pages reported receiving a kidney transplant and 30 percent reported that potential donors had stepped forward to be tested to determine whether they were compatible. One page reported that more than 600 people had been tested as potential donors for a young child.
Results were reported at a meeting of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) by kidney specialist Alexander Chang, MD.
Chang and colleagues were unable to determine exactly how much Facebook contributed to making successful solicitations. Chang noted that donors and families also used other tactics, such as seeking news coverage.
On pages in which relationships could be determined, 37 percent of the pages were created by patients, 31 percent by their children and 32 percent by other family or friends.
There was a broad range in how much personal information people disclosed. Some pages simply asked people to donate, without providing any other information. Other pages provided great detail about patients who needed kidneys, including explicit medical histories, family photos and emotional accounts of hospital stays, emergency room visits, financial problems and the difficulties of living on dialysis. ~Renalbusinesstoday~
