Prediction of Walking Performance Six Months after Kidney Transplantation.

Abstract

This study investigated the ability of 17 variables measured pretransplant to predict gait speed post transplant. Twenty-one renal transplant patients participated. Their age, height, weight, gender, diabetic status, knee extension force, grip force, sit to stand performance, standing balance, and gait speed (comfortable and maximum) were documented before transplant. Gait speed was measured again six months post transplant. Ten of the pretransplant variables were correlated significantly with both comfortable and maximum gait speed six months post transplant. Four additional pretransplant variables were correlated significantly with maximum gait speed six months post transplant. The highest correlations with the six month gait speeds were the same gait speeds pretransplant. Regression analysis showed, however, that pretransplant normalized knee extension strength added significantly to the explanation of both comfortable and maximum gait speed six months post transplant. Diabetic status added significantly to the explanation of comfortable gait speed six months post transplant. The findings of this study support the predictive validity of preoperative knee extension strength measures in kidney transplant patients.