Are all domains of quality of life poor among elderly kidney recipients?

BACKGROUND

This study sought to answer whether all domains of HRQoL are low among elderly kidney recipients.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study of 162 renal transplanted subjects included group I (age<40 years, n=85), group II (age between 40 and 55 years, n=55), and group III (age >55 years, n=22). We compared the total score of the Short Form health survey (SF-36) and its eight subscales, including physical functioning (PF), social functioning (SF), role limitations due to physical health problems (RPh), role limitations due to emotional problems (REm), mental health (MH), vitality (VT), bodily pain (BP), and general health perceptions (GH) between the study groups.

RESULTS

As compared to groups II and I, group III, showed significantly lower scores of REm (49.12 +/- 23.22, 63.03 +/- 26.33, 64.36 +/- 26.54, P=.08), PF (48.94 +/- 27.41, 72.69 +/- 25.54, 72.14 +/- 22.79, P=.001) and SF-36 total score (46.79 +/- 10.52, 54.77 +/- 10.66, 54.09 +/- 9.35, P=.01). There were no significant differences among SF, RPh, MH, VT, and BP. Group III reported better GH than groups II and I (52.36 +/- 9.18, 48.71 +/- 12.01, 43.50 +/- 14.81, P=.020).

CONCLUSIONS

Increasing age did not result in poor health-related quality of life in all domains. The general health perception was better in the elderly, which might be due to their better coping ability.