April is Minority Health Month, a month to raise awareness about the need to reduce health disparities and improve the health of minority communities. The 黑料网 Health Center for Transplant Care team and 黑料网 Health nephrologists recently increased equitable access for the Black community by addressing and fixing a disparity among kidney transplant patients.
The 黑料网 Health Center for Transplant Care team at the 黑料网 Medical Center recently collaborated with 黑料网 Health nephrologists to ensure Black patients received equitable access to kidney transplants.
Before the policy was implemented, the estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) 鈥� a tool used by kidney transplant programs to measure a patient鈥檚 kidney function 鈥� included a race-based coefficient, which consistently assigned a higher eGFR to patients who identify as Black or African American. Patients who have an eGFR of 20 or below are eligible for a kidney transplant, but this race coefficient systematically resulted in a higher eGFR for Black patients, potentially delaying referrals for transplant on the transplant waiting list.
鈥淏lack patients had to reach a higher creatinine level than white patients to be put on the kidney transplant waitlist, experienced delayed referral to nephrologists, and several other consequences,鈥� said Keisha Gibson, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine and pediatrics, chief of pediatric nephrology in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at the 黑料网. 鈥淭he observational studies that supported this notion that Black patients have higher creatinine levels than white patients were heavily flawed, biased, and non-generalizable.鈥�