A new study shows the waitlist for organ transplants is skyrocketing and Arizona had the No. 9 longest wait time for organ transplants in 2018 with 15.3% of those in need waiting five years or longer.
In 2018, there were 113,000 people on the waitlist nationally and 5,800 individuals died before receiving a transplant. Organ donation has saved countless lives since the first successful transplant in 1954, however, every year, the number of organ donations are far outnumbered by the number of people whose lives depend on them. The wait times vary by state.
HealthTestingCenters.com today released a study titled Organ Donation in America: Exploring Organ Donors By The Numbers using the latest information from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the Centers for Disease Control.
Below are key findings on organ donation nationally:
• Waitlist Numbers Skyrocketing: The number of waitlist skyrocketed in the last few decades, from less than 30,000 in 1992 to 120,000.
• Drug overdoses: Nearly 2,200 organ donors were people who died from drug overdoses. That’s 13.4% of all donors
• Organ with the shortest wait time: Lung transplants had the shortest wait time with 67% of those who received a transplant waiting less than a year.
• Organ with the longest wait time: Intestine transplants had the longest wait time with 26% of individuals waiting five or more years.
• Organs in highest demand for transplant: Kidneys, Liver, and Heart.
• Less than 1%: Of potential donors actually donated their organs in 2018
