Clinicians underestimate gastrointestinal symptoms and overestimate quality of life in renal transplant recipients: a multinational survey of nephrologists.

Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are common in renal transplant recipients and are associated with impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We investigated clinician attitudes to GI symptoms and HRQoL in these patients by surveying 145 nephrologists from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway. In total, 79 clinicians responded. They estimated that 20% of their patients experienced GI discomfort and that 36% had impaired HRQoL. We previously conducted a survey of the renal transplant recipients treated by these clinicians, in which 92% reported troublesome GI symptoms and 53% had impaired HRQoL compared with the general population. Nephrologists were more likely to manage GI symptoms by reducing immunosuppressant dose (87%) than by switching medication to one with fewer GI side effects (66%). We conclude that clinicians appear to underestimate the prevalence of GI symptoms and impaired HRQoL. Improving patient-clinician communication could lead to more informed management, resulting in better HRQoL and increased graft survival.