SIMILAR REJECTION AND RETRANSPLANT RATES BUT DECREASED SURVIVAL AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN PATIENTS FOLLOWING LIVER TRANSPLANTATION

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

11-14-2023

Publication Title

Hepatology

Abstract

Background: There are known disparities in medicine in regards to sex and race. Investigation is important to evaluate these disparities and to aim to correct them, offering the best outcome for a diverse range of patients. The study aims to compare liver transplant outcomes based off of the race of the patient. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at a single tertiary liver transplant center and was comprised of patients who underwent liver transplant from 2009 to 2019. The primary outcome was the rate of survival among different races. Secondary outcomes measured included the rate of rejection and re-transplant among different races in addition to the rate of survival among different sexes and donor types. Results: This study included 450 patients with race distribution of 83.6% white patients (n =376), 10.4% black patients (n=47), and 6.0% patients classified as 'Other' races (n=27). The primary outcome was the rate of survival compared amongst the three groups at 1 year, 3 years, and last known follow-up. Differences in survival rate among the three groups at 1 year was not statistically significant. At 3 years, the survival rate for white patients was 88.6%, black patients was 74.5%, and other patients was 92.6%; the chi-square statistics was 8.2 (p=0.016) which is statistically significant at p <0.05. At the last known follow-up, survival rate for white patients was 82.2%, black patients was 66.0%, and other patients was 88.9%; the chi-square statistic was 8.3 (p =0.016) which is significant. Re-transplant rates did not significantly differ between races with re-transplant rates among white, black, and other patients at 4.3%, 1.2%, and 3.7% respectively. Rejection rates did not significantly differ between races with white, black, and other patients at 24.5%, 31.9%, and 18.5% respectively. Comparisons of survival among patients with difference sexes did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference. Conclusion: Correlation exists between different patients races and survival among liver transplant patients. Patients who are black have a statistically lower survival rate (66.0%) compared to those who are white (82.2%) or other (88.9%). Further investigation with larger population sizes including epidemiological studies and subgroup analyses is necessary to delineate the disparities which influence these outcomes. Published literature suggests that access to care, socioeconomic status, and racial biases are factors that influence healthcare access and affect outcomes.

Volume

78

First Page

S1320

Last Page

S1321

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