Quality of life after organ transplantation in type 1 diabetics with end-stage renal disease.
Quality of life (QOL) should be an important consideration while choosing therapeutic options for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) including dialysis, cadaver (CKT) or living kidney transplant (LKT) or simultaneous pancreas-kidney (SPK) transplant.


METHODS
QOL was assessed in four groups of patients with history of type 1 DM and ESRD: recipients of SPK (n = 43), CKT (n = 43), LKT (n = 11) and wait listed (WL) patients (n = 23). Diabetes Quality of Life (DQOL), Short Form-36 (SF-36) and Quality of Well-Being (QWB) questionnaires were utilized. A subset of SPK (n = 19) and CKT (n = 12) recipients underwent longitudinal QOL evaluation.


RESULTS
On DQOL questionnaire, SPK group had better satisfaction subscore compared with CKT (1.8 +/- 0.5 vs. 2.2 +/- 0.6, p < 0.01) LKT (1.8 +/- 0.5 vs. 2.4 +/- 0.7, p < 0.05) and WL (1.8 +/- 0.5 vs. 2.6 +/- 0.6, p < 0.001) groups and better impact subscore compared with CKT (1.7 +/- 0.6 vs. 2.1 +/- 0.6, p < 0.05) and WL (1.7 +/- 0.6 vs. 2.3 +/- 0.6, p < 0.01) groups. There were no significant differences on physical/mental composite scores of SF-36. QWB score was better in SPK group vs. WL group (0.62 +/- 0.11 vs. 0.55 +/- 0.04, p < 0.05). Longitudinal decline in satisfaction (2.3 +/- 0.5 vs. 2.6 +/- 0.9, p = 0.058) and impact (2.0 +/- 0.5 vs. 2.2 +/- 0.5, p = 0.019) subscores of DQOL were noted in CKT group. There were no significant changes in the composite scores of SF-36 in both groups. QWB scores declined in the CKT group (0.67 +/- 0.10 vs. 0.61 +/- 0.05, p = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
QOL was better in type 1 diabetics with ESRD following transplantation when compared with remaining on WL. SPK transplantation had significant positive effect on diabetes-related QOL which was sustained longitudinally but it was difficult to show an overall improvement in general QOL.
Sureshkumar
Kalathil K
KK
Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Medicine, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, USA. ksureshk@wpahs.org
Patel
Bhavesh M
BM
Markatos
Angelo
A
Nghiem
Dai D
DD
Marcus
Richard J
RJ
D000328:Adult; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000601:surgery*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000601:surgery*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016035:Pancreas Transplantation; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011788:Quality of Life; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014850:Waiting Lists