High Rate of Unemployment After Kidney Transplantation: Analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing Database

Abstract

The employment rates at the time of transplant in the United States are generally low, although privately insured patients are significantly more likely than patient with public insurance to have employment. Only a portion of these patients returns to work after transplantation. For the patients unemployed at the time of transplantation, the chance to find a job afterward is quite low even in privately insured patients. A concerted effort should be made by the transplant community to improve the ability of successful kidney transplant recipients to return to work or find a new employment. It had been shown that employment status in the post-transplant period has a strong and independent association with the graft and recipient survival.