In view of the influence of donor factors such as age on graft outcome and the performance standards that measure OPO productivity by the number of organs recovered and transplanted, it is important to understand the relationship of certain donor factors on organ recovery for transplantation from cadaveric donors. We examined the influence of donor age, gender and ethnicity on the number and type of transplanted organs recovered from 598 consecutive cadaveric donors in our OPO between 1994 and July 1999. The highest number of organs/donor ocurs in the 11-20 donor age range and declines significantly with each age range. The type of organ recovered is also influenced by age, but the least effect is on liver recovery. No difference was seen in the number of organs recovered/donor by race. When the data were re-analyzed with regard to renal and extra-renal organs transplanted/million donor population, 78% of the kidneys (n=781/1006) were from the 11-50 age range and 81% of the extra-renal organs (n=822/1,192) were from that age range. Stepwise regression yielded a model where donor age significantly influenced (P=0.001) the number of organs recovered. Finally, the incidence of recovered and transplanted organs was significantly higher in males compared with females for hearts [51% (187/360) vs. 40% (86/214); P<0.006] and pancreata [18% (66/360) vs. 11% (24/214); P<0.02]. The number of organs recovered and transplanted from cadaveric organ donors is influenced predominantly by the age of the donor, with the exception being liver donors. Increasing organ recovery and transplantation of organs from donors from the two age extremes results in less gain in the number of organs/million population than recovery from the 11-50 age range.