Publications by authors named "Tanjala Purnell"

Background: Fewer minoritized patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) receive kidney transplantation (KT); efforts to mitigate disparities have thus far failed. Pinpointing the specific stage(s) within the transplant care continuum (being informed of KT options, joining the waiting list, to receiving KT) where disparities emerge among each minoritized population is pivotal for achieving equity. We therefore quantified racial and ethnic disparities across the KT care continuum.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Medical distrust may hinder kidney transplantation (KT) access. Among KT candidates evaluated for waitlisting, we identified factors associated with high distrust levels and quantified their association with waitlisting.

Methods: Among 812 candidates (2018-2023), we assessed distrust using the Revised Health Care System Distrust Scale across composite, competence, and values subscales.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Black and Hispanic adults are disproportionately burdened by cardiometabolic disorders. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the effectiveness of mobile health technologies to promote disease prevention and self-management among US adults in diverse communities.

Methods: Potential studies were identified using a comprehensive search of the PubMed and EMBASE databases for recent studies published from December 2018 through 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Recent data suggest patients with graft failure had better access to repeat kidney transplantation (re-KT) than transplant-naive dialysis accessing first KT. This was postulated to be because of better familiarity with the transplant process and healthcare system; whether this advantage is equitably distributed is not known. We compared the magnitude of racial/ethnic disparities in access to re-KT versus first KT.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * The risk of dementia is even higher for older adults living in minority-dominant neighborhoods, which is 2.19 times greater compared to White individuals in predominantly White neighborhoods.
  • * The study analyzed over 901,000 older adults from 2003 to 2019 and found that racial and ethnic segregation plays a critical role in the increased risk of dementia among minoritized adults with kidney failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Identifying the mechanisms of structural racism, such as racial and ethnic segregation, is a crucial first step in addressing the persistent disparities in access to live donor kidney transplantation (LDKT).

Objective: To assess whether segregation at the candidate's residential neighborhood and transplant center neighborhood is associated with access to LDKT.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this cohort study spanning January 1995 to December 2021, participants included non-Hispanic Black or White adult candidates for first-time LDKT reported in the US national transplant registry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Disasters exacerbate inequities in health care. Health systems use the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) to plan and coordinate their disaster response. This study examines how 2 health systems prioritized equity in implementing the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and identifies factors that influenced implementation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * This study analyzes data from over 27 million individuals to assess the impact of low eGFR and severe albuminuria on health outcomes like kidney failure, mortality, and cardiovascular events.
  • * Results indicate differing health risks associated with the methods of estimating kidney function, revealing significant correlations between lower eGFR and adverse health outcomes over time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study explored how healthcare providers view the use of AI-based clinical decision support (AI-CDS) for liver transplantation, focusing on the need for fairness and health equity in decision-making.
  • Researchers conducted interviews with 53 liver transplant providers, identifying six key themes that emphasize the importance of transparency, data interpretability, and the integration of AI as a supportive team member rather than a replacement.
  • Overall, findings show that providers are cautiously optimistic about AI-CDS improving clinical outcomes, highlighting the need for careful design that prioritizes equitable treatment for patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Health inequity refers to the existence of unnecessary and unfair differences in the ability of an individual or community to achieve optimal health and access appropriate care. Kidney diseases, including acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease, are the epitome of health inequity. Kidney disease risk and outcomes are strongly associated with inequities that occur across the entire clinical course of disease.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Many studies of Black-White disparities in living donor kidney transplantation hypothesize that they were partially due to Black-White differences in candidate social network access to healthy, willing donors. This differential access hypothesis has not been tested using directly measured social network data.

Research Questions: Do black kidney transplant candidates have perceived lower social network access to health and/or willing living donors than white candidates?

Design: A cross-sectional survey that measured the social network members was collected in 2015.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study examines how neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation impacts liver transplant evaluation disparities among patients, using a detailed Area Deprivation Index for analysis.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 1,377 adults referred for liver transplant evaluation and found that those in low socioeconomic neighborhoods faced higher risks of not being listed for transplantation, not starting evaluation, and dying before evaluation compared to those from high socioeconomic neighborhoods.
  • The findings suggest that specific interventions targeting neighborhood deprivation could help improve outcomes for low-income patients and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in liver transplant listings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Structural racism embodies the many ways in which society fosters racial discrimination through "mutually reinforcing inequitable systems" that limit access to resources and opportunities that can promote health and well being among marginalized communities. To achieve health equity, and kidney health equity more specifically, structural racism must be eliminated. In February 2022, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases convened the "Designing Interventions that Address Structural Racism to Reduce Kidney Health Disparities" workshop, which was aimed at describing the mechanisms through which structural racism contributes to health and health care disparities for people along the continuum of kidney disease and identifying actionable opportunities for interventional research focused on dismantling or addressing the effects of structural racism.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: Recently, the misuse of race as a biological variable, rather than a social construct, in biomedical research has received national attention for its contributions to medical bias. In national transplant registry data, bias may arise from measurement imprecision because of the collection of provider-perceived race rather than patients' own self-report.

Methods: We linked Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients data to a prospective, multicenter cohort study of adult kidney transplant patients (December 2008-February 2020) that collects patient-reported race.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Racial and ethnic disparities persist in access to the liver transplantation (LT) waiting list; however, there is limited knowledge about underlying system-level factors that may be responsible for these disparities. Given the complex nature of LT candidate evaluation, a human factors and systems engineering approach may provide insights. We recruited participants from the LT teams (coordinators, advanced practice providers, physicians, social workers, dieticians, pharmacists, leadership) at two major LT centers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Despite the societal benefits of live kidney donation, Black donors may be more likely than White donors to develop hypertension (HTN) and chronic kidney disease after donation. Among live kidney donors diagnosed with post-donation HTN, little is known about potential racial/ethnic differences in HTN self-care behaviors and perceived susceptibility to developing kidney disease.

Methods: We ascertained electronic medical records and phone survey data from live donors enrolled in the multi-center Wellness and Health Outcomes of LivE Donors (WHOLE-Donor) Hypertension Care Study between May 2013 and April 2020.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We conducted a systematic review to assess outcomes in Hispanic donors and explore how Hispanic ethnicity was characterized. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus through October 2021. Two reviewers independently screened study titles, abstracts, and full texts; they also qualitatively synthesized results and independently assessed quality of included studies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Living donor liver transplants (LDLTs) including those from nondirected donors (NDDs) have increased during the past decade, and center-level variations in LDLTs have not yet been described. We sought to quantify changes in the volume of NDD transplants over time and variation in NDD volume between transplant centers. We further examined characteristics of living liver donors and identified factors potentially associated with receiving an NDD liver transplant.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF