Limited Accessibility of Kidney Transplantation in Rural Residents: A Nationwide Data of South Korea
1Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea, Republic of, 2Hanyang University Guri Hospital, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, Republic of, 3Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, Republic of
Meeting: 2019 American Transplant Congress
Abstract number: D191
Keywords: Economics, Resource utilization
Session Information
Session Name: Poster Session D: Non-Organ Specific: Disparities to Outcome and Access to Healthcare
Session Type: Poster Session
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Session Time: 6:00pm-7:00pm
Presentation Time: 6:00pm-7:00pm
Location: Hall C & D
*Purpose: Kidney transplantation (KT) is the best modality of renal replacement therapy (RRT) for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). It is suggested that KT accessibility should not be affected by socioeconomic status or residence location. Recent studies have shown conflict data on the association between residence location and KT accessibility. Therefore, we aimed to explore the effect of residence location on KT access using a nationwide data of South Korea.
*Methods: We obtained information on ESRD patients and their medical facilities (dialysis clinic and hospitals) using National Health Information Database formed by the National Health Information Service and Korean ESRD registry-based data between 2005 and 2016. We divided resident locations into urban and rural area. Urban area included Seoul, Gyeonggi, and 6 metropolitan cities (Busan, Dae-gu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, and Ulsan). Rural area was defined as other areas. We compared dialysis and transplantation rate according to the resident location.
*Results: We identified 120,641 incident dialysis patients and 16,821 transplantation recipients. A total of 93,740 (77.7%) dialysis patients and 16,089 (95.6%) transplant recipients lived in urban areas. In South Korea, overall spread of medical facilities was similar to that of population. In urban, there were 69.2% of total population, 63.0% of tertiary and general hospitals, and 67.6% of dialysis clinic. Considering this, the rates of dialysis initiation (77.7%) and transplantation (95.6%) in urban areas was higher than those of residence and medical facilities. Additionally, the ratio of transplantation versus dialysis in urban areas was 0.172 while the ratio of transplantation versus dialysis in rural areas was 0.027, indicating that accessibility for transplantation is higher in urban areas.
*Conclusions: Altogether, RRT in Korean ESRD patients is initiated mainly in urban areas. In particular, KT access is more concentrated in urban areas than dialysis patients.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Kim J, Park K, Park S, Yu M, Kim Y, Jeong J, Kim K, Park M, Lee H. Limited Accessibility of Kidney Transplantation in Rural Residents: A Nationwide Data of South Korea [abstract]. Am J Transplant. 2019; 19 (suppl 3). https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/limited-accessibility-of-kidney-transplantation-in-rural-residents-a-nationwide-data-of-south-korea/. Accessed May 9, 2025.« Back to 2019 American Transplant Congress