Prevalence of anemia and its impact on the quality of life of renal transplant recipients in a Saudi setting

Abstract

Renal transplant patients show a high incidence of anemia, which is often responsible for cardiovascular morbidity and graft rejection. Anemia reportedly impacts the health-related quality of life (HRQoL); however, only a limited number of related studies have been conducted on renal transplant recipients. In this study, we estimated the prevalence of anemia and its effects on QoL of renal transplant patients in Saudi Arabia. Seventy-four patients were recruited in this study. They were asked to fill a self-reported EuroQoL instrument (EQ-5D-5L). Anemia and severe anemia were defined as Hgb < 12 g/dL and Hgb < 10 g/dL, respectively. Of the 74 recruited patients, 53 patients (71.6%) were anemic. Around 33.7% patients were reported to be completely healthy, with a 5-digit of 11111. With respect to EQ-5D-5L, the responses of anemic and non-anemic patients did not differ significantly. However, the response to anxiety-related questions for patients belonging to severe and mild-to-moderate anemia groups differed significantly. The final multivariate logistic model analysis revealed that the female gender of patient was significantly associated with incidence of anemia postoperatively [OR: 6.72, 95% CI: 1.7 - 25.6, P-value = 0.000]. Interestingly, our findings revealed a higher prevalence of anemia among the Saudi kidney patients compared to those of other nations. Furthermore, multicentric prospective studies are warranted to elucidate other clinical factors and the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms.