Health related quality of life (HRQOL) of kidney transplanted patients: variables that influence it

The incidence and prevalence of patients on renal replacement therapy (RRT) who receive a renal transplant are continuously increasing in Spain. At th e moment, they are the main group of endstage renal disease (ESRD) patients in our region (60% of total RRT patients). The aim of the present study wa s to assess the health related quality of life (HRQOL) of kidney transplant ed patients of our region, and to identify socio-demographic and clinical v ariables that influence it. The intention was also to compare the HRQOL of these patients with that of chronic haemodialysis (HD) patients and of the general population. Methods. Two hundred and ten kidney transplanted patients and 170 HD patien ts were evaluated using the Karnofsky performance scale (KPS), sickness imp act profile (SIP), and SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36). Socio-demographic and c linical data, including a comorbidity index (CI), were also collected. To c ompare our patients with the general population we used SF-36 mean scores f rom an aleatory sample taken from our region. Results. Transplant patients had lower mean scores on SLP dimensions and hi gher scores on SF-36 dimensions than chronic HD patients. In transplant pat ients, we found significant differences on SIP and SF-36 scores in gender, educational level, haematocrite and haemoglobin, CI, time since transplanta tion, and KPS. Conclusions. The HRQOL of transplant patients is clearly better than that o f chronic HD patients and similar to that of the general population. Differ ences in the HRQOL within transplant patients did not appear to be as a res ult of patient's age, but rather it would appear to be a consequence of gen der, analytic figures, CI, KPS score, time with transplant, and educational level.