Quality of life in living kidney donors: A single-center experience at the king abdulaziz medical city

Abstract

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) results in irreversible decline in renal function, which ultimately progresses to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Transplantation is the treatment of choice for ESRD, and this is possible only if donor kidneys are available. Several doubts can appear in the minds of donors and among general public regarding the quality of life (QOL) after donation which can affect the willingness to donate. Therefore, we aimed to assess the QOL in living kidney donors in King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia using the kidney disease QOL instrument short form (KDQOL-SF). This was a cross-sectional survey of living kidney donors between 18 and 65 years of age who donated their kidneys between 2008 and 2014 and was conducted in the hepatobiliary and transplantation department of our hospital. The study measured 17 domains in KDQOL-SF. Each domain score is up to 100; the higher the score in each domain, the better the QOL. Data will be entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21.0. The descriptive statistics will be presented as frequency and percentage for the categorical variables (e.g., gender and income) and the mean ± SD for numerical variables (e.g., QOL score). The study included 60 donors who donated during the study period between 2008 and 2014. Males were 49 (82%) with the age (mean ± standard deviation) as 32 ± 6.5 years. The donors reported an “overall-mean-score” of 86.7 ± 14.6. Four domains had lower scores between 60 and 80: “sleep” (61.8 ± 13.8), “emotional-well-being” (71.6 ± 11.1), “quality-of-social-interaction,” and “energy/fatigue.” The other 13 domains had scores >80. The two highest domains: “role-physical” (97.9 ± 13.3) and “effect-of-kidney-disease” (97.4 ± 8). Comparing males and females scores, work status was higher in males with P = 0.03. Our findings suggest that donors have a good QOL which may result in more donations. It is important to improve the standard of care for donors to enable them to live their life to the fullest.