Are there gender-specific differences in kidney transplantation? A team from Hannover Medical School (MHH), consisting of members of the Pediatric Nephrology, Nephrology and Medical Sociology departments, is investigating this question. In their analyses, the team was able to show that women in Germany have a lower chance of being placed on the waiting list than men.

Together with international partners, they described that the differences in mortality compared to the general population (so-called excess mortality) are more pronounced in women and girls after kidney transplantation than in male patients. The team was able to identify an increased vulnerability of the cardiovascular system in different settings as a possible explanation.

The team also showed that female patients have poorer transplant survival - especially if they receive a male donor kidney. For this work, the team received the Future Prize Nephrology 2023 from the German Society of Nephrology (DGfN) at the beginning of October 2023. "We are delighted that our work has been recognized. At the same time, the scientific challenges for our team have only just begun," reports Professor Anette Melk, Senior Physician at the MHH Clinical Department of Paediatric Kidney, Liver and Metabolic Diseases, who accepted the award on behalf of the team together with Professor Bernhard M.W. Schmidt, MHH Clinical Department of Nephrology and Hypertension. "Through our international collaboration, we have discovered that the discrimination of women in transplantation is a worldwide problem and requires global approaches for gender-sensitive transplantation medicine."

The Future Prize is awarded for innovative research work in the field of nephrology. In this case, the prize committee recognized that the investigation of the significance of gender in transplantation medicine is an interdisciplinary future field with a high level of dynamism, in which active research has only been conducted for a few years. In this context, the MHH team has been significantly involved in some of the important work of recent years and has thus created the basis for further interdisciplinary engagement with the topic The prize is awarded annually and is endowed with a prize of 3,000 euros.

Further information:

To the DGfN press release

MHH press release Kidney failure in childhood - gender influences chances of survival.

Website of the symposium: Diversity in Transplantation. The presentations of the symposium were recorded. The recordings can be viewed after registration.