Access to kidney transplant in Belo Horizonte/Minas Gerais-Brasil, 2000-2005: A longitudinal study

The growth of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) has reached epidemic proportions. Only with the use of artificial filtering methods (dialysis) or kidney transplant, there is the possibility of the patient’s survival. The kidney transplant is the choice treatment, offering better survival and quality of life. It is more cost-effective than the dialysis. Brazil has the biggest transplant public system in the world and in spite of the growth of this activity, it is not enough due to the small offer of organs and a growing demand, causing an increase in the waiting list. The knowledge about the real situation of transplants in Brazil is precarious due to the absence of trustable data. An observational, longitudinal study was carried out, using secondary and primary data, aiming to characterize the profile of the patients enrolled in the waiting list for kidney transplant in the period between January 1^st, 2000 to December 31^st ,2004 in Belo Horizonte (BH)/MG and its clinical denouement. Social-demographic and clinical data of patients residing in BH, majority age (above 18), enrolled in the waiting list was collected in the Central Estadual de Transplante (State Transplant Center) in MG. Interviews with professionals connected to the regulating process of transplants were carried out to obtain accounts of difficulties in the access to transplant. Descriptive and comparative analyses of secondary data and themes of the interviews were carried out. The transplanted patients were younger and professionally active, most frequently they presented blood group A, glomerulonephritis as cause of the ESRD, less prevalence of diabetes, less time from the beginning of the dialysis to the entry in the waiting list than non transplanted patients. Social-demographic and clinical variables influence the access to kidney transplant, considered a complex process which has determinants from primary care to the obtainment of the kidney.