Dr. Saleha Aziz, PGY-3 internal medicine resident, was given the 2024 Early Career Investigator Award in Healthcare Disparities Research Award by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Foundation Board of Trustees for the abstract entitled ‘Rising Mortality Trends Among Adults with Chronic Kidney Disease and Cirrhosis in the United States (1999 to 2020): A Study of Health Disparities, which will be presented at The Liver Meeting in November.

Dr. Aziz used a publicly available database, CDC WONDER, to study mortality trends across the US in patients with chronic kidney disease and cirrhosis, paying close attention to disparities related to age, sex, race, and location of death. Dr. Jan Petrasek served as the senior author. The abstract looked at age-adjusted mortality trends and used Joinpoint Trend Analysis Software to assess annual percentage changes to highlight changes in trends over the years. They found that 58,074 deaths took place in 20 years and that mortality rates increased over time. Men, adults 65+ years, as well as Hispanic and Black adults had greater mortality rates. Most deaths occurred in inpatient facilities highlighting the burden on the healthcare system.

Congratulations to Dr. Aziz for this important work.