Impact of public versus non public insurance on hispanic kidney transplant outcomes using UNOS database

Disparities in access to care and transplantation outcomes, including prolonged waitlist times and reduced living donor transplantation rates, are well-documented in Hispanic kidney transplant patients. While post-transplant graft and patient survival rates are generally comparable to those of non-Hispanic white patients, variability within the Hispanic population is driven by socioeconomic and clinical factors. Insurance type may be a crucial determinant of both access to transplantation and post-transplantation outcomes, warranting a focused study of its impact within this population. We used the OPTN/UNOS database to identify Hispanic kidney-only transplant recipients in the United States between 2015 and 2019. We categorized patients by insurance type to public versus non-public insurance. We compared risk of graft failure and death after kidney transplant between the public and non-public insurance groups. Of 14,639 Hispanic kidney transplant recipients, 10,761 (74%) had public insurance. Public insurance group were older, had more kidney retransplant, more deceased donor but less preemptive kidney transplant, longer dialysis duration, more diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, reduced functional status, and were less likely to be employed or have high education level compared to non-public insurance group. Public insurance was significantly associated with an increased risk of death-censored graft failure (HR 1.36; 95% CI 1.16-1.60) and patient death (HR 1.15; 95% CI 1.01-1.30). Similarly, public insurance was significantly associated with an increased risk of graft failure when accounting for death as the competing risk. Disparities in post-transplant outcomes were observed between Hispanic kidney recipients with public versus non-public insurance. Public insurance was a significant predictor for reduced graft and patient survival after kidney transplant.