The association of neighborhood racial mix and ED visit count in a cohort of patients on hemodialysis

BACKGROUND: Neighborhood racial mix is associated with dialysis facility performance metrics and mortality outcomes in patients on hemodialysis. We explored the association of neighborhood racial mix with emergency department (ED) visits in patients receiving hemodialysis. METHODS: Using Looking Glass (Montefiore’s clinical database) we identified a cohort of patients on hemodialysis with an index ED visit at any of 4 Montefiore Hospital locations, between January 2013 and December 2017 and followed it for number of ED visits through December of 2017 or dropout due to death. The racial mix data for the Bronx block group of each subject’s residence was derived from the Census Bureau. We then used negative binomial regression to test the association of quintile of percent of Black residents per residential block group with ED visits in unadjusted and adjusted models. To adjust further for quality offered by local dialysis facilities, with the facility zip code as the locus, we used data from the “Dialysis Compare” website. RESULTS: Three thousand nine-hundred and eighteen subjects were identified and the median number of ED visits was 3 (interquartile range (IQR) 1–7) during the study period. Subjects living in the highest quintile of percent Black residents were older, more commonly female and had lower poverty rates and higher rates of high school diplomas. Unadjusted models showed a significant association between the highest quintiles of Black neighborhood residence and count of ED visits. Fully adjusted, stratified models revealed that among males, and Hispanic and White subjects, living in neighborhoods with the highest quintiles of Black residents was associated with significantly more ED visits (p-trend =0.001, 0.02, 0.01 respectively). No association was found between dialysis facility locations’ quintile of Black residents and quality metrics. CONCLUSIONS: Living in a neighborhood with a higher percentage of Black residents is associated with a higher number of ED visits in males and non-Black patients on hemodialysis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12882-019-1520-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.