Rationale & objective: Less than 4% of patients with kidney failure receive kidney transplants. Although discard rates of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-viremic kidneys are declining, ~39% of HCV-viremic kidneys donated between 2018 and 2019 were discarded. Highly effective antiviral agents are now available to treat chronic HCV infection. Thus, our objective was to examine the cost-effectiveness of transplanting kidneys from HCV-viremic donors into HCV-uninfected recipients.
Study design: Markov state transition decision model. Data sources include Medline search results, bibliographies from relevant English language articles, Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, and the US Renal Data System.
Setting & population: US patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis who are on kidney transplant waiting lists.
Intervention(s): Transplantation with an HCV-unexposed kidney versus transplantation with an HCV-viremic kidney and HCV treatment.
Outcomes: Effectiveness measured in quality-adjusted life-years and costs measured in 2018 US dollars.
Model, perspective, and timeframe: We used a health care system perspective with a lifelong time horizon.
Results: In the base-case analysis, transplantation with an HCV-viremic kidney was more effective and less costly than transplantation with an HCV-unexposed kidney because of the longer waiting times for HCV-unexposed kidneys, the substantial excess mortality risk while receiving dialysis, and the high efficacy of direct-acting antiviral agents for HCV infection. Transplantation with an HCV-viremic kidney was also preferred in sensitivity analyses of multiple model parameters. The strategy remained cost-effective unless waiting list time for an HCV-viremic kidney exceeded 3.1 years compared with the base-case value of 1.56 year.
Limitations: Estimates of waiting times for patients willing to accept an HCV-viremic kidney were based on data for patients who received HCV-viremic kidney transplants.
Conclusions: Transplanting kidneys from HCV-viremic donors into HCV-uninfected recipients increased quality-adjusted life expectancy and reduced costs compared with a strategy of transplanting kidneys from HCV-unexposed donors.
Keywords: End-stage kidney disease (ESKD); cost-effectiveness analysis; decision analysis; direct-acting agent (DAA); glecaprevir; healthcare cost; hepatitis C; kidney transplantation; medical decision making; pibrentasvir; quality-of-life (QOL); transplant waiting list.
Copyright © 2020 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.