Effect of Renal Transplantation on Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease; A Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

Background: Renal transplantation is one of the best modalities to lengthen the life expectancy of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). However, no sufficient documents exist regarding the effects of renal transplantation on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) especially in Iranian population. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the possible influence of renal transplantation in different scales of HRQOL in southern Iran. Methods: This Quasi-experimental study was carried out with 120 patient candidate for renal transplantation (Apr 2012 - Jan 2014). Using the general SF-36 questionnaire, HRQOL of the patients 1 week before and 3 months after the transplantation was evaluated. All data were analyzed statistically using descriptive and analytical tests (α = 0.05). Results: Seventy-eight patients (65%) were male. The mean (SD) of the age was 38.92 (13.259) years. HRQOL and its eight scales were significantly different before and after the transplantation (P < 0.001). There was a significant difference between general perception of health and primary school, as well as diploma (P = 0.008). Other demographical factors such as age, gender, marital status and type of donor had no impact on HRQOL, statistically. There was no correlation between HRQOL and the length of facing the disease, except in the subgroup of role limitation due to physical problems (P = 0.01). Conclusions: The study showed that renal transplantation has sufficient credibility in improvement of HRQOL in patients with ESRD. Moreover, continuous enhancement of education level and public knowledge might be as effective as development of medical serving systems in maintaining and achieving greater improvement in HRQOL.