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Racial and Ethnic Disparities After Stroke in Pediatric Heart Transplant Recipients

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Black pediatric cardiac transplant recipients experience perioperative stroke less frequently than White pediatric cardiac transplant recipients. Mortality among the survivors of perioperative stroke is initially similar, but after 6 months these Black children experience more than 3 times the mortality rate of the White children. These are among the study findings published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers sought to evaluate racial and ethnic differences in occurrence of stroke following cardiac transplant and all-cause mortality after perioperative stroke in pediatric cardiac transplant recipients.  Read the full story in CardiologyAdvisor.

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Symptoms of insomnia, sleep apnea associated with increased mortality risk

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Symptoms of insomnia and sleep apnea were associated with a 56% increased risk for all-cause mortality, researchers reported in Sleep Epidemiology.

“Insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea are the two most common sleep disorders, each occurring in 10% to 30% of the general population, but in many patients the conditions can occur at the same time in what we call comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea,” Alexander Sweetman, PhD, co-author and a research fellow at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health at Flinders University in Australia, said in a release from the university. Read the full story in Healio.

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Increased exposure to green spaces during childhood could improve lung function

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Children with increased exposure to nature during childhood had improved lung function in later life, according to study findings published in European Respiratory Journal.

“We found that living in greener neighborhoods as children grow up is more important for their breathing than living in a green area when they were born,” Diogo Queiroz Almeida, MD,PhD candidate in the department of public health and forensic sciences and medical education at the Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Portugal, said in a press release. “This may be because babies spend much less time outdoors than children.”
Read more in Healio.

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Pediatric Kidney Transplant Rate Lower at For-Profit Dialysis Facilities

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Children receiving maintenance dialysis have lower rates of pediatric transplant waitlisting and kidney transplantation at facilities that are for-profit rather than nonprofit, according to an analysis of data from the US Renal Data System.

Among 13,333 pediatric patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) who initiated dialysis during 2000-2018, 3618 (27%) attended for-profit facilities, 7907 (59%) attended nonprofit facilities, and 1748 (13%) switched profit status. Read more in Renal & Urology News.

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New therapeutic approach could prevent injury to fragile transplanted lungs

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Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a potential therapeutic target in the donor lung that can prevent primary graft dysfunction (PGD) in lung transplant recipients, according to findings published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI).

GR Scott Budinger, MD, chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care in the Department of Medicine and the Ernest S. Bazley Professor of Airway Diseases, was senior author of the study.
Read more in Medical Xpress.

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My brother needed a liver transplant but didn’t have health insurance. My advocacy is what got him on the donor list.

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My brother was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis — a liver disease — resulting from the autoimmune condition ulcerative colitis in 2016. The condition is incurable and progresses to liver failure without a liver transplant. Fortunately, he was transplanted on July 8, 2018, and has been doing well ever since.

However, the process of getting him a transplant was a challenge, and quite eye-opening. I thought I’d watched enough medical dramas to give me a basic understanding — but, of course, it’s nowhere as simple in real life as it appears on television. Read the full story in Insider.

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Vaccination in patients with kidney failure: lessons from COVID-19

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Infection is the second leading cause of death in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Adequate humoral (antibody) and cellular (T cell-driven) immunity are required to minimize pathogen entry and promote pathogen clearance to enable infection control. Vaccination can generate cellular and humoral immunity against specific pathogens and is used to prevent many life-threatening infectious diseases. Read more in Nature Reviews Nephrology.

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Should Transplant Recipients Have Pets?

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Alex Harrison-Flaxman is a kidney transplant recipient who understands the rollercoaster of emotions that patients face after transplant.

“Being a transplant recipient is an absolute blessing, but it doesn’t come without its challenges,” says Harrison-Flaxman. “It’s a constant battle to stay vigilant and be on top of your care. But having my dog Bendel makes it a little more bearable when my anxiety is high, and the road ahead seems impossible.” Read more on CareDx.com.

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