The rarer the disease, the harder it is to get good statistical samples, which limits the ability to gather statistics on the incidence of MDS by ethnicity. Also, differences in minority access to health care may skew measurements that are based on MDS patients enrolled in studies and trials.
MDS is almost always acquired, not inherited, and in that way differs greatly from genetic diseases that tend to stay in one population group, as sickle cell anemia does among Africans and those of African descent.
At the same time, some genetic predisposition has been reported, with resulting differences among racial groups, as well as regional differences whose reasons are a subject of research. For example, see
Differences in epidemiology of MDS between Western and Eastern countries from 2007 and this
Increased risk for aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndrome in individuals lacking glutathione S-transferase genes from 2003.
The percentages of blood types differs by race (African Americans and Hispanics being more likely to be O+ and African Americans and Asians being more likely to be B+), but that's not of consequence in MDS treatment other than for matching blood types during transfusions.
I wish you the best of luck with your donor search. It's definitely the case that more African Americans and members of other minorities are needed in the national bone marrow registry, since the percentages of minority members lag behind the percentages in the population. That leaves members of minority groups less likely than Caucasians to find matches.
The
National Marrow Donor Program and other groups, such as
Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches, regularly sponsor or encourage minority recruitment for the registry. The NMDP has a
donor information page specifically targeted to African Americans. The NMDP's
2004 Biennial Report (PDF, 296K) includes statistics on minority representation in the registry.