THURSDAY, July 25, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) donors’ socioeconomic status (SES) affects recipients’ health outcomes, according to a study published online July 15 in PNAS.

Lucie M. Turcotte, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, and colleagues examined the cellular transplantability of SES-associated health risk by analyzing the health outcomes of 2,005 HCT recipients who were transplanted for hematologic malignancy at 125 U.S. transplant centers.

The researchers found that, compared to individuals transplanted from donors in the highest SES quartile, recipients transplanted with cells from donors in the lowest SES quartile experienced a 9.7 percent reduction in overall survival and a 6.6 percent increase in treatment-related mortality within three years. These results were consistent with previous research linking socioeconomic disadvantage with altered immune cell function and hematopoiesis, and indicate persistence of these effects after transfer of cells into a new host environment.

“The present data suggest that the biological impact of social disadvantage may alter hematopoietic cell function in ways that persist following transplantation into a new host,” the authors write. “These results show a deep cellular penetrance of socioeconomic adversity and underscore the need for additional interventions to mitigate social health disparities.”

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