Figure 3. SF-36 Profiles of RELIVE white and African-American donors.

Mean unadjusted SF-36 scores of white and African-American donors are shown as bars. Race data were obtained by self-report. The horizontal solid line marks the population norm and dotted lines mark ± 0.5 SD (the range for average scores). White donors had higher scores for social functioning than African-American donors (p = 0.0007); other SF-36 scores were not significantly different at p=0.01. Mean (± 1 SE) scores for RELIVE donors and two comparison groups are presented below the chart. Results from the National Health Measurement Survey (NHMS), a representative telephone survey of US adults 35–89 years old conducted in 2005–2006 (17) are shown in the first line. RELIVE donors’ (all races combined) SF-36 scores were significantly higher than NHMS results for the PCS, role physical, bodily pain, general health perceptions, and social functioning (ps from 0.006 to <0.0001); scores for physical functioning, vitality, role emotional, and the MCS did not differ; and NHMS mental health results were higher than RELIVE donors’ scores (p <0.0001). Results from the African-American Health project (AAHP), a population-based, in-home survey of 998 African-American adults aged 49 to 65 living in Missouri conducted 2000–2001 (18), are shown in the bottom line beneath the chart. SF-36 overall and domain scores of African-American donors and AAHP participants were not significantly different, except for general health perceptions, where African-American donors reported higher scores (p < 0.0001).