The Effect of the Statewide Sharing Variance on Geographic Disparity in Kidney Transplantation in the United States

Background and objectives

The Statewide Sharing variance to the national kidney allocation policy allocates kidneys not used within the procuring donor service area (DSA), first within the state, before the kidneys are offered regionally and nationally. Tennessee and Florida implemented this variance. Known geographic differences exist between the 58 DSAs, in direct violation of the Final Rule stipulated by the US Department of Health and Human Services. This study examined the effect of Statewide Sharing on geographic allocation disparity over time between DSAs within Tennessee and Florida and compared them with geographic disparity between the DSAs within a state for all states with more than one DSA (California, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin).

Design, setting, participants, & measurements

A retrospective analysis from 1987 to 2009 was conducted using Organ Procurement and Transplant Network data. Five previously used indicators for geographic allocation disparity were applied: deceased-donor kidney transplant rates, waiting time to transplantation, cumulative dialysis time at transplantation, 5-year graft survival, and cold ischemic time.

Results

Transplant rates, waiting time, dialysis time, and graft survival varied greatly between deceased-donor kidney recipients in DSAs in all states in 1987. After implementation of Statewide Sharing in 1992, disparity indicators decreased by 41%, 36%, 31%, and 9%, respectively, in Tennessee and by 28%, 62%, 34%, and 19%, respectively in Florida, such that the geographic allocation disparity in Tennessee and Florida almost completely disappeared. Statewide kidney allocations incurred 7.5 and 5 fewer hours of cold ischemic time in Tennessee and Florida, respectively. Geographic disparity between DSAs in all the other states worsened or improved to a lesser degree.

Conclusions

As sweeping changes to the kidney allocation system are being discussed to alleviate geographic disparity—changes that are untested run the risk of unintended consequences—more limited changes, such as Statewide Sharing, should be further studied and considered.     

Dialysis Facility Profit Status and Early Steps in Kidney Transplantation in the Southeastern United States

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Sex Disparity in Deceased-Donor Kidney Transplant Access by Cause of Kidney Disease

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Cardiovascular Disease Assessment Prior to Kidney Transplantation

Cardiovascular disease is highly prevalent and the leading cause of mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease, end-stage kidney disease, and kidney transplantation. However, kidney transplantation offers improved survival and quality of life, with an overall reduction in cardiovascular disease events; therefore, it remains the optimal treatment choice for those with advanced kidney disease. Pretransplantation cardiovascular assessment is performed prior to wait-listing and at routine intervals with the principal goal of screening for asymptomatic cardiac disease, intervening when necessary to improve long-term patient and allograft survival. Current clinical practice guidelines are based on expert opinion, with a lack of high-quality evidence to guide standardized screening practices. Recent studies support de-escalation in screening with avoidance of preemptive revascularization in asymptomatic patients, but they fail to provide clear guidance on how best to assess the cardiovascular fitness of this high-risk group. Herein we summarize current practice guidelines, discuss key study findings, highlight the role of optimal medical therapy, and evaluate future directions for cardiovascular disease assessment in this population.     

Shortened Length of Stay Improves Financial Outcomes in Living Donor Kidney Transplantation

Kidney transplantation is the preferred clinical and most cost-effective option for end-stage renal disease. Significant advances have taken place in the care of the transplant patients with improvements in clinical outcomes. The optimization of the costs of transplantation has been a constant goal as well. We present herein the impact in financial outcomes of a shortened length of stay after kidney transplant.     

Emergency Department Visits after Kidney Transplantation

Background and objectives

In 2011, there were approximately 131 million visits to an emergency department in the United States. Emergency department visits have increased over time, far outpacing growth of the general population. There is a paucity of data evaluating emergency department visits among kidney transplant recipients. We sought to evaluate the incidence and risk factors for emergency department visits after initial hospital discharge after transplantation in the United States.

Design, setting, participants, & measurements

We identified 10,533 kidney transplant recipients from California, New York, and Florida between 2009 and 2012 using the State Inpatient and Emergency Department Databases included in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. We used multivariable Poisson and Cox proportional hazard models to evaluate adjusted incidence rates and time to emergency department visits after transplantation.

Results

There were 17,575 emergency department visits over 13,845 follow-up years (overall rate =126.9/100 patient-years; 95% confidence interval, 125.1 to 128.8). The cumulative incidences of emergency department visits at 1, 12, and 24 months were 12%, 40%, and 57%, respectively, with median time =19 months; 48% of emergency department visits led to hospital admission. Risk factors for higher emergency department rates included younger age, women, black and Hispanic race/ethnicity, public insurance, depression, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, and emergency department use before transplant. There was wide variation in emergency department visits by individual transplant center (10th percentile =70.0/100 patient-years; median =124.6/100 patient-years; and 90th percentile =187.4/100 patient-years).

Conclusions

The majority of kidney transplant recipients will visit an emergency department in the first 2 years post-transplantation, with significant variation by patient characteristics and individual centers. As such, coordination of care through the emergency department is a critical component of post-transplant management, and specific acumen of transplant-related care is needed among emergency department providers. Additional research assessing best processes of care for post-transplant management and health care expenditures and outcomes associated with emergency department visits for transplant recipients are warranted.     

Risk Stratification for Rejection and Infection after Kidney Transplantation

Background and objectives

Definition of individual risk profile is the first step to implement strategies to keep the delicate balance between under- and overimmunosuppression after kidney transplantation.

Design, setting, participants, & measurements

We used data from the Efficacy Limiting Toxicity Elimination Symphony Study (1190 patients between 2002 and 2004) to model risk of rejection and infection in the first year after kidney transplantation. External validation was performed in a study population from the Fixed-Dose Concentration-Controlled Trial (630 patients between 2003 and 2006).

Results

Despite different temporal dynamics, rejections and severe infections had similar overall incidences in the first year after transplantation (23.4% and 25.5%, respectively), and infections were the principal cause of death (43.2% of all deaths). Recipient older age, deceased donor, higher number of HLA mismatches, and high risk for cytomegalovirus disease were associated with infection; deceased donor, higher number of HLA mismatches, and immunosuppressive therapy including cyclosporin A (compared with tacrolimus), with rejection. These factors were integrated into a two–dimensional risk stratification model, which defined four risk groups: low risk for infection and rejection (30.8%), isolated risk for rejection (36.1%), isolated risk for infection (7.0%), and high risk for infection and rejection (26.1%). In internal validation, this model significantly discriminated the subgroups in terms of composite end point (low risk for infection/rejection, 24.4%; isolated risk for rejection and isolated risk for infection, 31.3%; high risk for infection/rejection, 54.4%; P<0.001), rejection episodes (isolated risk for infection and low risk for infection/rejection, 13.0%; isolated risk for rejection and high risk for infection/rejection, 24.2%; P=0.001), and infection episodes (low risk for infection/rejection and isolated risk for rejection, 12.0%; isolated risk for infection and high risk for infection/rejection, 37.6%; P<0.001). External validation confirmed the applicability of the model to an independent cohort.

Conclusions

We propose a two–dimensional risk stratification model able to disentangle the individual risk for rejection and infection in the first year after kidney transplantation. This concept can be applied to implement a personalized immunosuppressive and antimicrobial treatment approach.     

Nonprogressive Kidney Dysfunction and Outcomes in Older Adults with Chronic Kidney Disease

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether a subgroup of patients with severe but nonprogressive renal dysfunction exist and to characterize this subgroup. DESIGN: Retrospective longitudinal monocentric cohort study. SETTING: Nephrology clinic for chronic kidney disease (CKD). PARTICIPANTS: Between January 1998 and December 2004, 177 consecutive patients aged 80 and older were referred for the first time to nephrology for CKD. MEASUREMENTS: The characteristics of patients with nonprogressive or progressive CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline of < and ≥1 mL/min per 1.73 m² per year, respectively) were observed and analyzed, and their risk of dying or requiring dialysis was determined. After exclusion of subjects requiring immediate dialysis or followed up for less than 6 months, 138 patients remained eligible for analysis. RESULTS: In the study cohort (initial mean eGFR 31.8 mL/min per 1.73 m², median follow‐up 47 months), patients were more likely to require dialysis than to die; 36% of patients had nonprogressive CKD. This characteristic, predicted by low proteinuria, lack of hypertension, and low cardiovascular comorbidity, was the strongest predictor of global survival. In progressors, two independent covariates (eGFR <30 mL/min per 1.73 m² and hemoglobin ≤11 g/dL at inclusion) predicted the risk of requiring dialysis. CONCLUSION: More than one‐third of subjects aged 80 and older referred to a nephrology center had severe but nonprogressive kidney dysfunction. This subgroup had a lower mortality rate than those with progressive kidney dysfunction. Simple covariates (low proteinuria, lack of hypertension, low cardiovascular comorbidity) predicted nonprogression of CKD. Distant nephrology follow‐up of such patients may be sufficient.     

Associations between Deprivation,Geographic Location,and Access to Pediatric Kidney Care in the United Kingdom

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Recipient Criteria Predictive of Graft Failure in Kidney Transplantation

Several classifications systems have been developed to predict outcomes of kidney transplantation based on donor variables.This study aims to identify kidney transplant recipient variables that would predict graft outcome irrespective of donor characteristics.All U.S. kidney transplant recipients between October 25,1999 and January 1, 2007 were reviewed. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model time until graft failure. Death-censored and nondeath-censored graft survival models were generated for recipients of live and deceased donor organs. Recipient age, gender, body mass index (BMI), presence of cardiac risk factors, peripheral vascular disease, pulmonary disease, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, history of malignancy, hepatitis B core antibody, hepatitis C infection, dialysis status, panel-reactive antibodies (PRA), geographic region, educational level, and prior kidney transplant were evaluated in all kidney transplant recipients.Among the 88,284 adult transplant recipients the following groups had increased risk of graft failure: younger and older recipients, increasing PRA (hazard ratio [HR],1.03–1.06], increasing BMI (HR, 1.04–1.62), previous kidney transplant (HR, 1.17–1.26), dialysis at the time of transplantation (HR, 1.39–1.51), hepatitis C infection (HR, 1.41–1.63), and educational level (HR, 1.05–1.42).Predictive criteria based on recipient characteristics could guide organ allocation, risk stratification, and patient expectations in planning kidney transplantation.     

Kidney Disease after Heart and Lung Transplantation

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is not only common after lung and heart transplantation but also is associated with increased morbidity and mortality due to multiple pre-, peri- and post-transplant factors. While the exact incidence of CKD in this population is not well-defined, it seems to have gradually increased over the years as older recipients are more frequently considered. The increasing success of the procedure and expanding transplant candidate pool has allowed many with comorbid conditions to receive a transplant, which was considered prohibitive in the past. This review presents risk factors that have been linked to CKD as well as interventions that may help alleviate this serious problem. The impact of pretransplant renal function and the overexaggerated role of chronic nephrotoxicity of calcineurin inhibitors is discussed in detail. Until the exact pathophysiology of kidney disease is better understood, there is a dire need to expand the research agenda beyond observational studies.