Equity of access to renal transplantation: a European perspective

Gender disparities in kidney replacement therapies and transplantation in Colombia

BACKGROUND

In chronic kidney disease (CKD), there are historical inequities in multiple stages of the pathway for organ transplantation. Women have been recognized as disadvantaged within this process even after several efforts. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the prevalence and incidence of CKD by gender and their access to Kidney replacement therapy (KRT) in Colombia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study based on secondary analysis of national information on CKD, hypertension, diabetes, waiting list, deceased, and living donor transplantation between 2015 and 2020.

RESULTS

In Colombia, 4.934.914 patients were diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes, or CKD. 60,64% were female, with a mean age of 63.84 years (SD 14,36). Crude incidence for hypertension (10.85 vs. 7.21 /1000 inhabitants), diabetes mellitus (3.77 vs. 2.98 /1000 inhabitants), and CKD (4 vs. 2 /1000 inhabitants) was higher for females. Crude incidence for KRT was 86.45 cases /100.0000 inhabitants. In 2020, 2978 patients were on the waiting list, 44% female. There were 251 deaths on the waiting list, 38% female. This year, 517 kidney transplants were performed, and only 40% were female.

CONCLUSION

In Colombia, there are proportionally more females with CKD and precursor comorbidities. Nevertheless, there are fewer females on the waiting list and transplanted annually.

Mitigating Health Disparities in Transplantation Requires Equity, Not Equality

Despite decades of research and evidence-based mitigation strategies, disparities in access to transplantation persist for all organ types and in all stages of the transplant process. Although some strategies have shown promise for alleviating disparities, others have fallen short of the equity goal by providing the same tools and resources to all rather than tailoring the tools and resources to one's circumstances. Innovative solutions that engage all stakeholders are needed to achieve equity regardless of race, sex, age, socioeconomic status, or geography. Mitigation of disparities is paramount to ensure fair and equitable access for those with end-stage disease and to preserve the trust of the public, upon whom we rely for their willingness to donate organs. In this overview, we present a summary of recent literature demonstrating persistent disparities by stage in the transplant process, along with policies and interventions that have been implemented to combat these disparities and hypotheses for why some strategies have been more effective than others. We conclude with future directions that have been proposed by experts in the field and how these suggested strategies may help us finally arrive at equity in transplantation.