A new study has tried to find an answer to the question whether race or gender plays a role on who is eligible for a liver transplant. The report from Dr. Cynthia Moylan and colleagues at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina discovered a new disparity – between men and women.

The study found women were less likely than men to get a life-saving liver transplant, perhaps because of physical differences between the two sexes, according to the study published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association. The authors of the new study looked at more than 45,000 patients, black and white, on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network waiting list for liver transplantation between Jan. 1, 1996, and Dec. 31, 2000, and between Feb. 28, 2002, and March 31, 2006 (after the new system of liver transplant, called the MELD Score System (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease), was introduced).

The new system has reduced the racial inequity, but gender disparity remains. This means that women are less likely to receive a transplant and more likely to die. This problem is the result of several factors, including women's smaller size (meaning they need a smaller liver), higher likelihood of having an autoimmune disease, and the fact that women have less muscle mass. “Sex differences persist despite the (new system),” the study authors said. “Whether these differences result from true anatomic differences or represent a problem not addressed by the use of the (system) mandates further investigation.”

“It's important that we make sure that these livers are allocated fairly,” said Duke’s Dr. Cynthia Moylan, first author of the study.