Home dialysis as the incident modality in patients starting dialysis in West Virginia: role of the rural outreach kidney care clinic.

Background: Despite efforts to increase its use, home dialysis remains underutilized as a modality for kidney replacement therapy (KRT). Home dialysis may offer an advantage in rural areas. We evaluated the role of a rural outreach program on the use of home dialysis as incident KRT modality in West Virginia.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Data on KRT were collected using the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) database from 1965 to 2020.

Results: Of the total 22,408 West Virginia patients who started KRT with a dialysis modality between 1965 and 2020, 3203 (14.3%) patients started with a home modality. Among patients from counties served by a rural outreach clinic providing kidney care, 896 (18%) patients started with home dialysis compared to 2306 (13%) patients from other counties. Patients from counties served by a rural outreach clinic were more likely to be White (96 vs 90%), have comorbid illness, and live in a rural community (90 vs 56%), but less likely to be unemployed (11 vs 14%), all p < 0.001. In a multivariable model, after adjusting for comorbid medical conditions and rurality, the odds of starting dialysis with a home modality were greater for patients from counties served by a rural clinic than for patients from counties without such clinics (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.15-1.7).

Conclusion: Patients with ESKD from West Virginia counties served by rural outreach clinics were more likely to initiate KRT by a home-based modality than patients from other counties in West Virginia.