Organ transplantation and gender differences: a paradigmatic example of intertwining between biological and sociocultural determinants

Table 1 Transplant activity in Italy 2002–2015

Living donor transplants
	Donor
Recipient	Female		Male		Total
Female	507	18 %	498	17 %	1005	35 %
Male	1379	48 %	467	16 %	1846	65 %
Total	1886	66 %	965	34 %	2851	100 %
Cadaveric donor transplants
	Donor
Recipient	Female		Male		Total
Female	6636	16 %	6102	15 %	12,738	31 %
Male	11,477	28 %	16,254	40 %	27,731	69 %
Total	18,113	45 %	22,356	55 %	40,469	100 %
Heart TX
	Donor
Recipient	Female		Male		Total
Female	616	16 %	309	8 %	925	23 %
Male	853	22 %	2188	55 %	3041	77 %
Total	1469	37 %	2497	63 %	3966	100 %
Liver TX
	Donor
Recipient	Female		Male		Total
Female	2039	15 %	1532	11 %	3571	26 %
Male	4065	30 %	5956	44 %	10,021	74 %
Total	6104	45 %	7488	55 %	13,592	100 %
Kidney TX
	Donor
Recipient	Female		Male		Total
Female	3603	17 %	4105	19 %	7708	36 %
Male	6271	29 %	7613	35 %	13,884	64 %
Total	9874	46 %	11,718	54 %	21,592	100 %

Note that in living donor transplants, females are two thirds (65 %) of donors and only one thirds (35 %) of recipients. In cadaveric donor transplants, the percentage of female recipients is similar to the previous (31 %) while female donors are less than half (45 %) of total cadaveric donors. The percentages of female and male donors and recipients are represented in bold
TX transplant