The Association of Community Health Indicators With Outcomes for Kidney Transplant Recipients in the United States

Abstract

In a national cohort of patients undergoing complex medical procedures, health indicators from patients' communities are strong independent predictors of all-cause mortality. Findings highlight the importance of community conditions for risk stratification of patients and development of individualized treatment protocols. Findings also demonstrate that standard risk adjustment does not capture important factors that may affect unbiased performance evaluations of transplant centers.