Background: Caregivers of patients with chronic kidney disease experience great burdens. Changes in these caregivers' quality of life (QOL) before and after their children underwent kidney transplantation (KTx) were evaluated in this prospective study.
Methods: The sequential QOL scores of 31 caregivers (median age 38.5 years) whose children (5.8 years) underwent KTx from 2012 to 2014 were studied. The same questionnaires were administered before and 1, 3, and 12 months after KTx. We evaluated whether the following factors were associated with QOL: pre-transplant dialysis, recipient's mental and/or motor disability, and acute rejection or infections after KTx.
Results: The average QOL score before KTx (3.40) was higher than that of the general population (3.23). Despite a temporal decrease at 1 month (3.15), the final QOL scores were maintained at 3 months (3.40) and 1 year (3.42) after KTx. The mean QOL scores were significantly higher for caregivers of patients with than without dialysis before KTx [3.46 vs. 3.28 (p = 0.041) at 3 months and 3.53 vs. 3.18 (p = 0.001) at 1 year, respectively]. Conversely, these scores were significantly lower for caregivers of patients with than without disabilities [2.97 vs. 3.20 (p = 0.021) at 1 month, 3.18 vs. 3.46 (p = 0.006) at 3 months, and 3.10 vs. 3.50 (p = 0.001) at 1 year, respectively].
Conclusion: Dialysis of children before KTx was a particularly larger burden for caregivers. The child's comorbidities and social adaptation problems might be focused after KTx, we need to evaluate for more long-term QOL of caregivers.
Keywords: Caregivers; Children; Kidney transplant; Quality of life.