Transplants for school-aged children increase during summer vs. non-summer break weeks
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Key takeaways:
- Weekly living donor kidney transplant rate increased 73% during summer break.
- Weekly deceased donor kidney transplants increased 7% during summer break.
Kidney transplants in school-aged children increased during the summer break compared with non-summer break weeks, according to published data.
“Kidney transplantation is the optimal treatment for children with kidney failure, improving survival and development compared with dialysis,” Lindsey M. Maclay, BS, of the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, wrote with colleagues. “However, the immediate post-transplant period requires a typical hospitalization of approximately 1 week, with a subsequent home recovery period and high risk of early rehospitalization.”
Researchers used data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients to find all U.S. kidney transplant recipients, aged 0 to 65 years, between 2001 and 2022. The goal was to describe changes in weekly transplant rates between summer vs. non-summer break weeks to determine the school calendar effect on pediatric kidney transplantation timing for school-aged recipients. School age was defined as 6 to 17 years, and school break in the summer was defined as weeks 23 to 32 of the year, according to the study.
After calculating mean transplants per week during the year for living donor kidney transplants, the researchers assessed deceased donor kidney transplants, with timing determined by organ availability.
Weekly transplant rates during summer break were compared with non-summer break weeks in 13,050 school-aged children, with researchers comparing recipient characteristics during each period. Researchers also compared summer transplant rates to non-summer weeks for 3,553 preschool-aged children (aged 5 years or younger) and 313,514 adults (aged 18 to 65 years), where parental or work obligations may apply.
The weekly living donor kidney transplant rate increased 73% during summer break, according to the results, increasing from 3.7 non-summer break transplants per week to 6.4 transplants per week. Weekly deceased donor kidney transplants increased 7% during the summer break, from 7.1 to 7.6 transplants per week.
In addition, there was a greater summer break increase for transplants in preemptively transplanted recipients for living donor kidney transplants among school-aged children.
Researchers observed small summer break transplant increases in adults and preschool-aged children. School-aged recipients who received transplants during summer break were more likely to identify as non-Hispanic white and have private insurance.
Among living donor kidney transplant recipients who could have a procedure electively scheduled, the transplant rate increased nearly twofold during summer break.
“Although these data indicate preferential scheduling of pediatric [living donor kidney transplants] LDKT during summer school break, it is not clear whether this strategy is appropriate or beneficial,” the researchers wrote. “Further research is needed to determine the medical and psychosocial effect of transplant scheduling on short- and long-term outcomes.”
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