title: Employment outcomes following successful renal transplantation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Data on employment outcomes after successful renal transplantation are few. We conducted this study to identify favorable factors for employment after transplantation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adult patients <65 yr of age who underwent renal transplantation between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2007 were surveyed. Patients with graft survival <1 yr were excluded. We also tested their knowledge of Medicare coverage after transplantation. Data were analyzed using chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests. p-Value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 55% response rate was obtained where 56% of respondents were employed after transplantation. Race, marital status, previous transplant, and complicated post-operative course did not influence employment. Favorable factors include male gender (p=0.04), younger age (<40 [p=0.0003] or <50 yr [p<0.0001]), having ≥1 dependent (p=0.04), higher education (minimum high school degree [p=0.003] or some college [p=0.002]), live donor recipient (p=0.004), wait time <2 yr (p=0.03), dialysis <2 yr (p<0.0001) or pre-dialysis (p=0.04), and pre-transplantation employment (p<0.0001). Mean time for employment was 4.9±6.3 months (median three months). Common reasons for unemployment were disability (59%) and retirement (27%). Finally, 7% correctly responded that Medicare benefits end 36 months following transplantation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Potentially modifiable factors to improve employment are earlier referral and better education regarding Medicare eligibility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Transplantation, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA. mary.eng@louisville.edu
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eng
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cambon
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Marvin
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gleason
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007342:Insurance Benefits; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014478:Unemployment; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult