Incidence of ESKD Among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders Living in the 50 US States and Pacific Island Territories

Abstract

Rationale & objective: Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) have been reported to have the highest rates of incident end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) compared with other races in the United States. However, these estimates were likely biased upward due to the exclusion of nearly half the NHPI population that reports multiple races in the US Census. We sought to estimate the incidence rate of ESKD, including individuals reporting multiple races, and describe the clinical characteristics of incident cases by race and location.

Study design: Health care database study.

Setting & participants: US residents of the 50 states and 3 Pacific Island territories of the United States whose ESKD was recorded in the US Renal Data System (USRDS) between 2007 and 2016, as well as US residents recorded in the 2010 Census.

Predictors: Age, sex, race, body mass index, primary cause of ESKD, comorbid conditions, estimated glomerular filtration rate, pre-ESKD nephrology care, and hemoglobin A_1c level among ESKD cases.

Outcome: Initiation of maintenance dialysis or transplantation for kidney failure.

Analytical approach: Crude ESKD incidence rates (cases/person-years) were estimated using both single- and multiple-race reporting.

Results: Even after inclusion of multirace reporting, NHPI had the highest ESKD incidence rate among all races in the 50 states (921 [95% CI, 904-938] per million population per year)-2.7 times greater than whites and 1.2 times greater than blacks. Also using multirace reporting, the NHPI ESKD incident rate in the US territories was 941 (95% CI, 895-987) per million population per year. Diabetes was listed as the primary cause of ESKD most frequently for NHPI and American Indians/Alaska Natives. Sensitivity analysis adjusting for age and sex demonstrated greater differences in rates between NHPI and other races. Diabetes was the primary cause of ESKD in 60% of incident NHPI cases. Patients with ESKD living in the territories had received less pre-ESKD nephrology care than had patients living in the 50 states.

Limitations: Different methods of race classification in the USRDS versus the US Census.

Conclusions: NHPI living in the 50 US states and Pacific territories had the highest rates of ESKD incidence compared with other races. Further research and efforts are required to understand the reasons for and define how best to address this racial disparity.

Keywords: American Samoa; ESRD incidence; Guam; Native Hawaiian; Northern Mariana Islands; Pacific Islander; Racial disparity; US territories; chronic kidney disease (CKD); diabetes; end-stage renal disease (ESRD); incidence rate; nephrology care; race/ethnicity; renal failure.