title: Impact of personality and psychological distress on health-related quality of life in kidney transplant recipients.
abstract: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has become an important outcome in the evaluation of kidney transplantation (KT). Although the medical and sociodemographic predictors of HRQoL in patients after KT are well known, there is still a lack of knowledge about the psychological factors involved. This study focuses on the role of personality and actual psychological distress in predicting HRQoL after KT. Sociodemographic (gender, age, education, average income), medical (glomerular filtration, serum albumin, number of co-morbid diseases) and psychological data (neuroticism, extroversion, psychological distress) were collected from 177 (60.5% male subjects; 48 +/- 12.1 years) kidney transplant recipients, and physical and mental HRQoL were measured using the SF-36. A univariate general linear model analysis was performed. Higher physical HRQoL was associated with younger age, higher education and income, a low number of co-morbid diseases, lower neuroticism and distress. Higher mental HRQoL was associated with higher education and income, longer time from KT, higher extroversion, lower neuroticism and distress. In both physical and mental HRQoL, actual distress was the best predictor, even when controlled for neuroticism. These results confirm the importance of psychological distress in patients and its impact on their HRQoL after KT and can be applied in intervention programs focused on increasing HRQoL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology and Health Psychology, Kosice Institute for Society and Health, Faculty of Arts, PJ Safarik University in Kosice, University Centre of Excellence, Moyzesova 16, 040 01 Kosice, Slovak Republic. luciaprihodova@gmail.com
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Prihodova
authors.forename: Iveta
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nagyova
authors.forename: Jaroslav
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosenberger
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roland
authors.forename: Jitse P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: van Dijk
authors.forename: Johan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Groothoff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D011788:Quality of Life; D012923:Social Class; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome