Reducing Disparities in Living Donor Transplant Among African Americans

Overview

For most of the patients in the United States with end stage renal disease (ESRD), kidney transplantation represents the optimal treatment, and living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) is preferable. Nevertheless, there are pervasive racial disparities in access to LDKT. The main outcome of this study is change in the proportion of study participants who have at least one living donor inquiry by friends/family over study period.The long-term objective is to understand the combined effect of a systems-level intervention (Transplant Referral EXchange or T-REX) and a culturally-sensitive individual-level educational intervention (web-based Living ACTS: About Choices in Transplantation and Sharing) on racial disparities in access to LDKT.

For most of the patients in the United States with end stage renal disease (ESRD), kidney transplantation represents the optimal treatment. Moreover, living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) offers numerous advantages such as better kidney quality, increased short- and long-term graft survival, lower rates of acute rejection, and reduced health care cost. Nevertheless, there are pervasive racial disparities in access to LDKT, with white ESRD patients four times more likely to receive a LDKT than African American ESRD patients. The main outcome of this study is change in the proportion of study participants who have at least one living donor inquiry by friends/family over 12 months from baseline.The long-term objective is to understand the combined effect of a systems-level intervention that enhances communication between dialysis facility and transplant center clinicians (Transplant Referral EXchange or T-REX) and a culturally-sensitive individual-level educational intervention (web-based Living ACTS: About Choices in Transplantation and Sharing) on racial disparities in access to LDKT.