Abstract
Background
A cross sectional study was conducted over a 1-year period in order to evaluate quality of life and health state for patients receiving renal replacement therapy in a resource constrained Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago.
Methods
Five hundred and thirty patients were enlisted in the study. For those who had received renal transplants (n=100) and for those on peritoneal dialysis (n=80), all were included. Among the 1000-odd patients who were receiving haemodialysis 350 were studied using convenience sampling. To be included, one had to be on renal replacement therapy for 3 months or more and at least 18 years of age. The Kidney Disease Quality of Life (KDQOL-36) and the EuroQol (EQ-5D-3L) instruments were administered after demographic data were collected. Transplant recipients were further evaluated with the Kidney Transplant Questionnaire (KTQ). Inferential analysis of data included 95% confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, multiple regression and analysis of variance. SPSS24, STATA14 and MINITAB18 were used.
Results
Of the 530 patients, 52.5% were male and 37.5% were in the 56-65 years age group. Hypertension (68.9%) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (50.5%) were reported as the main causes of kidney disease. The KDQOL-36 domain scores and significantly associated variables included modality of renal replacement (p=0.000), age (p=0.001), Charlson’s Comorbidity Index (p=0.001), income (p=0.000) and employment status (p=0.000). Transplant patients performed the best in the KDQOL-36. The mean visual analogue scale and index scores from the EQ-5D-3L were highest among renal transplant recipients (p=0.000).
Conclusion
Renal transplant recipients enjoy the best quality of life and health state among patients on renal replacement therapy in Trinidad and Tobago.
Psychological Disorders and Quality of Life among Sudanese Dialysis Patients and Renal Transplant Recipients