Study: Racial disparities persist in kidney disease during pregnancy

A study calls for improved postpartum care after finding Black pregnant patients with end-stage kidney care were significantly less able to access kidney transplant and nephrology care compared with reproductive-age patients with other causes of the condition. Published last week in JAMA Network Open, the study of over 180,000 women is the largest consisting of patients with a pregnancy-related primary cause of end-stage renal disease and the first to compare outcomes with patients with nonpregnancy-related causes. Black patients were overrepresented among those with pregnancy-related end-stage kidney disease at 31.9%, despite comprising 16.2% of the birthing population. Black pregnant patients had an equal or better survival rate but were significantly less likely to get a kidney transplant or nephrology care before end-stage kidney disease onset. (JAMA Network Open article, 12/8/23)