Quality of life after renal transplantation. The impact of tacrolimus

The improvement of quality of life is one of the major goals in the treatme nt of patients after renal transplantation. While immunosuppressive therapy is present in almost all of these patients, little is known about the effe cts of newer immunosuppressive agents. We therefore investigated the impact of tacrolimus on life quality. From November 1997 to January 1998, a quest ionnaire was handed out which focussed on physical and mental problems as w ell as sexual capacity and the attitudes towards graft, donor and transplan t related side effects. 50 kidney graft recipients treated with tacrolimus were matched to 50 patients with a cyclosporine-based immunosuppression (= controls). Values are given as mean +/- standard deviation. Tacrolimus trea ted patients had a mean creatinine of 1.8 +/- 0.8 mg/dl, as compared to 1.6 +/- 0.7 mg/dl in controls. The overall status of health was assessed to be good in 82% of the tacrolimus group (controls: 80%). 38% were working full -time (controls: 20%). Only 14% of patients described their physical condit ion as poor (16% in controls). Sexual function was good in 66% (controls: 7 4%) and poor in 10% (controls: 12%). Mental function was assessed to be goo d in 92% (controls: 82%). The majority of patients felt comfortable with th eir physical, sexual and mental capabilities. This was independent from the immunosuppressive regimen.