Role of Socioeconomic Status in Kidney Transplant Outcome

There is controversy regarding the influence of genetic versus environmental factors on kidney transplant outcome in minority groups. The goal of this project was to evaluate the role of certain socioeconomic factors in allograft and recipient survival. Graft and recipient survival data from the United States Renal Data System were analyzed using Cox modeling with primary variables of interest, including recipient education level, citizenship, and primary source of pay for medical service. College (hazard ratio [HR] 0.93, P < 0.005) and postcollege education (HR 0.85, P < 0.005) improved graft outcome in the whole group and in patients of white race. Similar trends were observed for recipient survival (HR 0.9, P < 0.005 for college; HR 0.88, P = 0.09 for postcollege education) in the whole population and in white patients. Resident aliens had a significantly better graft outcome in the entire patient population (HR 0.81, P < 0.001) and in white patients in subgroup analysis (HR 0.823, P < 0.001) compared with US citizens. A similar effect was observed for recipient survival. Using Medicare as a reference group, there is a statistically significant benefit to graft survival from having private insurance in the whole group (HR 0.87, P < 0.001) and in the black (HR 0.8, P < 0.001) and the white (HR 0.89, P < 0.001) subgroups; a similar effect of private insurance is observed on recipient survival in the entire group of patients and across racial groups. Recipients with higher education level, resident aliens, and patients with private insurance have an advantage in the graft and recipient outcomes independent of racial differences.