Dialysis

Dialysis is medical filtering of the blood when the kidneys can no longer do so. Two main types: hemodialysis (blood routed through an external filter, usually 3 times per week at a center) and peritoneal dialysis (filtering fluid cycled through the abdominal cavity, typically at home).

Black Americans are 3-4x more likely than white Americans to be on dialysis, primarily because of higher rates of diabetes-related and hypertension-related kidney failure. Pre-emptive kidney transplant (transplant before starting dialysis) is associated with better outcomes than transplant after dialysis but is less commonly achieved for Black patients due to access disparities in the transplant waitlist.