A Data-Driven Approach to Defining the Volume-Outcome Relationship in Renal Transplantation
1Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 2Division of Abdominal Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Meeting: 2020 American Transplant Congress
Abstract number: B-224
Keywords: Graft survival, Kidney transplantation, Outcome, Resource utilization
Session Information
Session Name: Poster Session B: Non-Organ Specific: Disparities to Outcome and Access to Healthcare
Session Type: Poster Session
Date: Saturday, May 30, 2020
Session Time: 3:15pm-4:00pm
Presentation Time: 3:30pm-4:00pm
Location: Virtual
*Purpose: Advances in immunosuppression and management continually improve short- and long-term outcomes of renal transplantation. However, center volume and expertise, while commonly believed to affect outcomes, is inconsistently linked to improved endpoint measures, and there is no standardized definition of high-volume and low-volume centers or how their behaviors differ. The aim of the present study is to identify meaningful, data-driven volume thresholds predicting improved outcomes for renal transplant centers.
*Methods: All sole KTx cases performed on patients over the age of 18 between 2003 and 2015 in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database were reviewed. Patients listed for or receiving other organs and transplants were excluded. A small number (under 1%) of patients were excluded due to lack of follow-up data. Stratum-specific likelihood ratios (SSLR) were calculated to establish volume thresholds predictive of the primary outcome of 1 year graft loss. Demographic and outcomes data were compared between volume strata and significance tested using chi-squared tests or analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc Tukey’s.
*Results: A total of 220,006 recipients were included in the final cohort, 184,685 of which were included in threshold-finding. Four distinct volume strata predicting graft failure within one year were identified by SSLR calculation and confidence interval analysis: very low (under 10), low (10-60), intermediate (60-164) and high volume (over 164 transplants/year). As volume increases, outcomes improve including decreasing 1-year mortality (4.5% for very low vs 2.8% for high, p<0.0001) and decreasing length of stay (8.3 days for very low vs 6.6 days for high, p<0.0001). The majority of transplants are performed at intermediate and high volume centers, which utilize older donors with overall higher KDPIs and a longer average wait time . Very low volume centers have markedly inferior outcomes (SSLR of 2.7 for graft loss against centers overall) despite favorable PRAs and KDPIs and short wait times; these lowest volume centers serve relatively more non-white recipients (62% vs 50% for high and intermediate, p<0.0001) but account for only 1.1% of total renal transplants.
*Conclusions: This study adds to the existing literature by estimating data-driven thresholds for annual renal transplant volumes at which meaningful differences in graft survival, length of stay, and mortality can be observed and highlight the gap in outcomes between very low volume centers and all others.
Very low volume (<10KTx/year, 69 centers) n=2,430 | Low volume (10-60 KTx/year, 108 centers) n=54,349 | Intermediate volume(60—164 KTx/year, 75 centers)n=103,175 | High volume (>164 LTx/year, 20 centers) n=60,052 | P value | |
SSLR (95% CI) | 2.70 (2.28, 3.20) | 1.07 (1.02, 1.12) | 0.99 (0.96, 1.02) | 0.89 (0.86, 0.95) | |
Time on wait list (days) | 549.7 ± 575 | 709.6 ± 692.9 | 725.5 ± 703.2 | 754.5 ± 782.9 | <0.0001 |
Peak PRA | 13.2 ± 26.8 | 15.1 ± 28.9 | 17.1 ± 29.9 | 14.6 ± 27.8 | <0.0001 |
Average center KDPI | 0.42 ± 0.27 | 0.46 ± 0.27 | 0.48 ± 0.27 | 0.51 ± 0.27 | <0.0001 |
LOS (days) | 8.3 ± 6.7 | 7.5 ± 10.0 | 6.6 ± 9.0 | 6.6 ± 15.2 | <0.0001 |
1-year mortality | 109 (4.5%) | 1,910 (3.5%) | 2,949 (2.9%) | 1,669 (2.8%) | <0.0001 |
Graft loss within first year | 114 (4.7%) | 2,061 (3.8%) | 3,794 (3.7%) | 2,048 (3.4%) | 0.00012 |
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Godfrey EL, Bailey MD, Frankel WC, Rana A. A Data-Driven Approach to Defining the Volume-Outcome Relationship in Renal Transplantation [abstract]. Am J Transplant. 2020; 20 (suppl 3). https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/a-data-driven-approach-to-defining-the-volume-outcome-relationship-in-renal-transplantation/. Accessed December 12, 2024.« Back to 2020 American Transplant Congress