What factors really matter? Health-related quality of life for patients on kidney transplant waiting list.
BACKGROUND
Waiting times for kidney transplant are long in Singapore. Healthrelated quality of life (HRQoL) of patients might be affected as a result of the stress of the long wait and the uncertainty of being called to undergo a surgical operation. This study aimed to measure the HRQoL of patients on the kidney transplant waiting list and to identify factors which could impact on the HRQoL scores in this group of patients.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study of kidney transplant waiting list patients managed at a tertiary renal unit using the SF-36. A SF-36 normative calculator was used to generate HRQoL scores for the Singapore general population matched with the study cohort's age, gender and ethnicity.


RESULTS
There were 265 respondents with a response rate was 81%. Our study shows that HRQoL scores for the kidney transplant waiting list patients were lower than the population norms across all subscales and were clinically significant for General Health, Role Physical, Bodily Pain, Social Functioning and Mental Component Summary scores. Factors such as being Chinese, married, employed and undergoing haemodialysis predicted better HRQoL scores after adjusting for possible confounders. Age, gender, educational level, household income, history of kidney transplant, duration on the transplant waiting list and years on dialysis did not significantly influence SF-36 across all subscales scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Kidney transplant waiting list patients had worse HRQoL compared to the general population. Factors such as ethnicity, marital status, employment status, and type of dialysis treatment significantly influenced patients' perception of their HRQoL.
Centre for Health Services Research, Singapore Health Services Ptd Ltd, Singapore.
Siew Chin
SC
Ong
Wai Leng
WL
Chow
Saskia
S
van der Erf
Veena Dhanajay
VD
Joshi
Jeremy Fy
JF
Lim
Crystal
C
Lim
Ping Sing
PS
Tee
York Moi
YM
Lu
Terence Ys
TY
Kee
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014850:Waiting Lists