The quality of life in type I diabetic patients with end-stage kidney disease before and after simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation: a single-center prospective study

Simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation (SPKT) aimed at increasing the life expectancy for diabetic patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). However, the risks of surgery complications and immunosuppression therapy make it unclear if the SPKT positively impacts patient's quality of life (QoL). Using the Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short-Form Health Survey (KDQOL-SF36) and Problems Areas in Diabetes (PAID) measurement tools, we compared the QoL of 57 patients on the pretransplant waiting list with that of 103 patients who had undergone SPKT. Posttransplantation patients were assessed within different time intervals (<1, 1-3, and >3 years). Mean KDQOL-SF36 scores were better among posttransplantation patients in the SF36 and KDQOL domains. It was also observed patients' stress reduction in PAID mean score (P = 0.011) after SPKT. We concluded that patients receiving SPKT had a better perception of QoL than did patients on the waiting list, and this positive perception remained almost entirely comparable over the three different intervals of the posttransplantation time. These positive results showed better outcomes when excluding patients that lost pancreas graft function. Further research is needed to compare diabetic patients with kidney transplant alone using specific measurement tools to evaluate patient's QoL.