A Study of Quality of Life of Elderly Live Kidney Donors—An Interview-Based Prospective Follow-Up Study

Abstract

Quality of life (QoL) is a vital aspect of postdonation amongst donors, especially elderly donors. There is a limited study from India assessing the QoL amongst young live donors (YLD), and no study has been done on the elderly sub-group. This study was undertaken to determine the donors' sociodemographic and essential clinical characteristics, as well as to study the QoL of the live kidney donors and compare the QoL of elderly and young donors. Baseline demographic characters taken from the RTR registration register and SF-36 questionnaire were used to assess the QoL at baseline, discharge post-transplant, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months through an interview. We found that the QoL of the elderly donors in postkidney donation returns to baseline at the end of 6 months in all dimensions of the QoL amongst the North Indian population. The physical function is better amongst elderly donors at the end of 3 and 6 months than among young donors. The study's findings must be propagated to increase the donation of kidneys to older people. This is the first of its kind from India, necessitating further multicentric study.