Factors Affecting Timeline of Kidney Transplant Evaluation Process in Saudi Arabia

Patients who reach the terminal phase of renal disease are candidates for kidney transplant. However, the pretransplant process is substantial and requires time-intensive evaluations. We aimed to investigate the factors that affect the timeline for evaluation of kidney transplants and to identify the challenges and recommendations for improvement of the evaluation process in Saudi Arabia.

For the first part of the study, we collected retrospective data from all patients who underwent kidney transplant from 2017 to 2022 at King Abdullah Medical City, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. For the second part of the study, we used a cross-sectional design to collect health workers' perceptions of the factors, recommendations, and challenges in the kidney transplant evaluation process at King Abdullah Medical City.

The average number of specialty clinic visits was 7.43, and the average number of clinic visits was 21.37. The mean wait time for surgery was 185.5 days (SD, 106.91 days). There was a significant positive correlation between the wait time for surgery and the total number of clinics visited (r = 0.286, P = .026).

This study provides valuable insightsinto the factors that may affect kidney transplant evaluation in Saudi Arabia, and our results emphasize the importance of adequate resources and effective teamwork.