Black Children Less Likely to Get Kidney Transplant
Before Dialysis
11/10/11
THURSDAY, Nov. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Minority children are less
likely than white children to get a kidney transplant before their
kidney disease gets so bad they need dialysis, U.S. researchers
find.
They also found that black children with kidney failure and no
health insurance are more likely than whites to die while waiting
for a kidney transplant.
The Emory University researchers analyzed 2000-08 data from the
U.S. Renal Data System, and found that white children had a 56
percent higher average annual rate of preemptive transplants than
blacks and a 50 percent higher rate than Hispanics. A preemptive
transplant is one performed before a patient begins dialysis.
White children were also more likely to have a living donor.
Nearly 79 percent of whites had living donor, compared to 57
percent of Hispanic children and 49 percent of black children.
The reasons for these racial disparities aren't clear, but
minority patients may have less access to health care, the
researchers said.
The Emory team also examined deaths among all 8,146 kidney
failure patients younger than 21 who began dialysis between January
2000 and September 2008 and did not receive a kidney transplant by
September 2009.
There were 896 deaths, for an overall death rate of 9.7 percent.
Black children with no health insurance were 59 percent more likely
to die than whites. Hispanic children were less likely to die than
children in other racial groups, regardless of insurance
status.
The findings were to be presented Wednesday at the the American
Society of Nephrology's annual meeting in Philadelphia.
Because this research was presented at a medical meeting, the
data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until
published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases has more about
kidney disease in children.
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