The University of New Mexico’s Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D) is pleased to announce our latest publication, “Protocol for the AKT-MP Trial: Access to Kidney Transplantation in Minority Populations” in Contemporary Clinical Trial Communications. This trial compares two patient-centered methods to facilitate kidney transplant evaluation: kidney transplant fast track (KTFT), a streamlined KT evaluation process; and peer navigators (PN), a peer-assisted evaluation program that incorporates motivational interviewing. This pragmatic randomized trial will use a comparative effectiveness approach to assess whether KTFT or PN can help patients overcome barriers to kidney transplant listing.
Please access the paper here.
The University of New Mexico’s Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D) is proud to present our latest publication, "Are Cultural or Psychosocial Factors Associated with Patient-Reported Outcomes at the Conclusion of Kidney Transplant Evaluation?" in Clinical Transplantation. This longitudinal study examined whether cultural factors and psychosocial characteristics, assessed at the start of kidney transplant evaluation, are associated with patient-reported outcomes (including quality of life and satisfaction with service) at the completion of evaluation.
Please access the paper here.
The University of New Mexico’s Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D) Director, Dr. Larissa Myaskovsky, shared her expertise in the newly released Chronic Kidney Disease: Finding a Path to Prevention, Earlier Detection, and Management report and companion roadmap from the Milken Institute Center for Public Health. Though it ranks as the eighth leading cause of death in the country, as many as 9 out of 10 American adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are unaware of their condition. Data indicates this health condition disproportionately affects historically underserved communities, imposing further social and financial burdens on these communities. This report and roadmap call on different stakeholders and identify numerous actionable steps they can take to prevent CKD, deliver earlier detection, and to slow its progression to kidney failure.
CHEK-D Director, Dr. Larissa Myaskovsky, partnered with colleagues, Drs. Lilia Cervantes from the University of Colorado, John Steiner from Kaiser Institute for Health Research, and Bruce Robinson from the Arbor Research Collaborative for Health, on a perspective piece for the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The perspective discusses how community health workers—lay non-medical individuals who are trusted and share the lived experience and characteristics of the community they serve—can help reduce kidney health disparities for racial and ethnic minorities and people who experience poverty. Dr. Cervantes was a CHEK-D featured grand rounds speaker for the UNM Department of Internal Medicine in 2020. CHEK-D is partnering with Dr. Cervantes on a research project to reduce disparities in access to kidney replacement therapy using community health workers.
Please access the paper here.
The University of New Mexico’s Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D) is proud to present our latest publication, “Protocol for the IMPACT Trial: Improving Healthcare Outcomes in American Transplant Recipients Using Culturally-Tailored Novel Technology” in the Journal of Renal Nutrition. This trial aims to reduce post-transplant health issues in kidney transplant recipients by providing them with individualized, culturally-tailored diet and exercise plans, developed by a registered dietitian nutritionist and physical therapist, immediately after transplant. This paper describes the procedures of a clinical trial pilot study that will be tested in 20 kidney transplant recipients at the University of New Mexico Hospital. This project was supported by Award Number C-4157 from Dialysis Clinic Inc. (DCI), a national non-profit dialysis provider, and an award from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health grant #UL1TR001449.
Please access the paper here or at the JRN website.
The University of New Mexico’s Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D) is pleased to announce our latest publication, “The Combined Roles of Race/Ethnicity and Substance Use in Predicting Likelihood of Kidney Transplantation” in Transplantation. We examined whether race/ethnicity in combination with ongoing substance use predicted incidence of kidney transplantation in a sample of 1152 patients, enrolled between March 2010 and October 2012. We found that the combination of minority race/ethnicity and substance use may lead to unique disparities in likelihood of transplantation. To facilitate equity, strategies should be considered to remove any barriers to referral for and receipt of substance use care in racial/ethnic minorities. This longitudinal study was completed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and was funded by NIDDK grant #R01DK081325 and DCI grant #C-3924.
Dr. Myaskovsky recently served as a Guest Speaker at the AcademyHealth Disparities Interest Group 2021 Virtual Networking Event.
Click here for the description.
The University of New Mexico’s Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D) is pleased to announce our latest publication, “Medication, Healthcare Follow-up and Lifestyle Nonadherence: Do They Share the Same Risk Factors?” in Transplantation Direct. We conducted a prospective cohort study to assess the association between kidney patients’ pre-transplant characteristics (including sociodemographic, condition-related, health system, and patient-related cultural and psychosocial factors) with nonadherent behaviors in three different domains post-transplant, including medication adherence, healthcare follow-up, and lifestyle behavior changes. In our analysis of 173 transplant recipients, we found that different nonadherence behaviors may stem from different motivation and risk factors, and concluded that adherence interventions should be individualized to target specific risk factors.
Please see this link for a brief summary and this link for the article in Transplantation Direct.
In a new study published in JAMA Network Open, a team led by CHEK-D mentee, Dr. Margaret Greenwood-Erickson, Assistant Professor in the UNM Department of Emergency Medicine, found that people treated in rural emergency departments had comparable outcomes to those receiving care in urban emergency departments. The team reviewed the administrative claims of two matched groups of 473,152 Medicare patients each who sought emergency care in either urban or rural hospitals between 2011 and 2015.
Please see this link for the UNM HSC write up and this link for the article in JAMA Network Open.
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The CHEK-D is committed to significantly and positively impacting research, education and outreach activities to increase healthcare equity and reduce disparities by partnering with dedicated faculty, staff and community leaders.
