Opportunities to improve the care of patients with kidney transplant failure

Opportunities to improve the care of patients with kidney transplant failure.BackgroundPatients initiating dialysis after a failed kidney transplant are a subgroup of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients who have not been characterized. Exposure to immunosuppressive medications differentiates these patients from the general incident end-stage renal disease (ESRD) population.MethodsData from the Health Care Financing Administration 2728 form were used to determine the hematocrit, erythropoietin use, serum albumin and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) among 4643 patients with failed kidney transplants who initiated dialysis between April 1995 and December 1998.ResultsAt dialysis initiation, the mean hematocrit, serum albumin and GFR were 27.5%, 3.3 g/dL, and 8.4 mL/min/1.73m2, respectively, and only 35% of patients had received erythropoietin. In a multivariate analysis, patients <45 years, females, patients of non-White race, non-diabetic patients, hemodialysis patients and patients with a lower serum albumin had a higher odds for hematocrit