Publication Spotlight: Dr. Sandal

Interview with Shaifali Sandal, MD, Associate Professor (Clinician Investigator), Department of Medicine, Divisions of Nephrology and Experimental Medicine, McGill University, author of Differences in Racial and Ethnic Disparities Between First and Repeat Kidney Transplantation.

What question did your study aim to answer?

Are there racial/ethnic disparities in access to re-kidney transplantation (KT) and how do they compare with disparities in access to first-KT?

What inspired you to conduct this study?

I read a study that access to re-transplantation is better among patients who had a history of a previous transplant when compared with transplant naïve patients. This advantage was speculated to be due to familiarity with navigating the transplant evaluation process and having an established ongoing relationship with a transplant center. I wanted to see if this advantage is equitably distributed.

Which USRDS datasets did you use to conduct your study?

The graft failure cohort consisted of adult (≥18 years of age) patients who experienced graft failure following first kidney-only transplantation. We included White, Black, and Hispanic patients.

Using plain language, please summarize your study conclusions in two or three points.

• Black and Hispanic patients with graft failure experience disparities in access to re-KT that are worse than or similar to disparities in accessing KT the first time
• Despite presumably having better familiarity with the transplant process and healthcare system resulting from the previous transplant, disparities in KT persist for racialized patients.

Please share a specific insight about working with USRDS data that you learned during the completion of this study.

I learnt the list of variables captured by USRDS.