Comparative Examination of the Life Quality in Hemodialysis Patients and Kidney Transplant Recipients in the Educational-Medical Centers of Ahvaz

Background: Kidney chronic failure and its replaced remedies make the patient exposed to a wide range of physical, mental, economic, and social problems and as the life quality is affected by them, the life quality would be changed. Therefore, evaluation of the life quality by specific evaluation tools and based on demographic information help the patients’ problems to be dealt with principally. In this study, we examine the life quality of hemodialysis patients and kidney transplant recipients in Ahvaz. Methods: This study is a cross sectional study to compare the life quality of patients who had kidney transplantation or underwent hemodialysis treatment. Sampling was conducted based on purposeful method and the life quality of 70 patients and 70 kidney transplant recipients referring to medical center and the people who had the criterion for entering the study were examined by a questionnaire of kidney diseases’ life quality (KDQOL-SF36); then, after collecting data, they were compared by applying statistical tests including T-test and Chi-square test. Results: The mean total scores of the life quality did not show a statistically significant difference in two groups (P = 0.344), but the kidney transplantation group with a significant mean difference obtained better scores in the dimensions of general health (P = 0.002), physical health (P = 0.000), sleep (P = 0.028), limitation in playing a role (P = 0.000), and physical limitation (0.002) in comparison with hemodialysis group. The two groups did not show any significant difference in dimensions of disorder in social natural function and social relations, physical pain, limitation because of pain, vivacity, coping with disease, inner emotion related to disease, self-knowledge, emotional issues, and sexual activities. Conclusions: Although kidney transplantation could increase the patients’ life quality in some dimensions, in the kidney transplantation group the people still encounter their previous problems and are in need of receiving more care to keep their transplant kidney. Based on results, therefore, educational - medical centers must predict and implement necessary arrangements to increase the life quality in both groups.