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Race-specific approach to spirometry disadvantages Black patients

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By Elana Gotkine

A race-specific approach to spirometry interpretation results in a lower lung allocation score (LAS) for Black patients and a higher LAS for White patients, according to a study published online May 26 in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

J. Henry Brems, M.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues examined the impact of a race-specific versus race-neutral approach to spirometry interpretation on LAS among 8,982 adults (90.3 percent White; 9.7 percent Black) listed for lung transplant in the United States between Jan. 7, 2009, and Feb. 18, 2015. At listing, the LAS was calculated using a race-specific and race-neutral approach. Read more in Medical Xpress.

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Outcomes of Lung Transplant Candidates Aged ≥70 Years During the Lung Allocation Score Era.

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Contributor: Alice L Zhou,Alexander K Karius,Jessica M Ruck,Benjamin L Shou,Emily L Larson,Alfred J Casillan,Jinny S Ha,Pali D Shah,Christian A Merlo,Errol L Bush

With the increasing age of lung transplant candidates, we studied waitlist and post-transplant outcomes of candidates ≥70 years during the Lung Allocation Score era.

Adult lung transplant candidates from 2005-2020 in the United Network for Organ Sharing database were included and stratified based on age at listing into: 18-59 years old, 60-69 years old, and ≥70 years old. Baseline characteristics, waitlist outcomes, and post-transplant outcomes were assessed.
Read more in Physician’s Weekly.

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LAS system may not reflect risks for lung transplant patients

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Stratifying sarcoidosis by PH doesn’t fully show how it confers higher mortality risk

By Marisa Wexler, MS
The Lung Allocation Score (LAS) system, which is used to prioritize patients awaiting lung transplant, may not accurately reflect disease severity risks for people with pulmonary sarcoidosis, a new study reports.

Results showed that several factors accounted for in the LAS remain significant predictors of mortality for patients on the transplant wait list. This “suggests that the LAS system could be further optimized to lessen the disparity in candidate waitlist mortality,” the researchers wrote in the study, “Lung Transplantation Waitlist Mortality Among Sarcoidosis Patients by Lung Allocation Score Grouping,” which was published in Transplantation Proceedings. Read the full article in Sarcoidosis News.

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