Evaluating Health Related Quality of Life and Emotions in Muslim and Jewish Kidney Transplant Patients

Abstract

Abstract Background The scholarship on the impact of the source of the donated kidney (living donor = LD or deceased donor = DD) and the ethnoreligious background on the quality of life post-transplantation has received little scientific attention. The purpose of the present research is to evaluate health related quality of life and psychological feelings among kidney transplant (KT) recipients. Methods 262 renal recipients completed the Health Related Quality Of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire and answered the Transplant Effects Questionnaire (TxEQ) questionnaire assessing their post-transplantation emotional and psychological responses. Results KT Recipients reported medium levels of physical, psychological, social, and environmental dimensions of HRQOL. Muslim recipients reported significantly higher levels of physical, psychological, and social dimensions of HRQOL than Jews. Recipients of kidneys from LD reported higher levels of HRQOL. Recipients of kidney from a LD reported significantly higher levels of guilt and responsibility to be healthy. Conclusions Our findings indicate that receiving a graft from a LD contributes to the HRQOL in the physical, psychological, and environmental dimensions. Hence, donations from LD should be encouraged, by investing efforts in promoting public awareness of the importance of donating kidneys by LDs. Muslim kidney recipients enjoy better physical, social, and psychological HRQOL; this difference can be explained by the supportive and embracing familial and social networks characterizing traditional Arab communities. Post-transplantation support programs should be designed in order to provide further support and improve emotional and psychological responses to postoperative reality.