Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Kidney Transplant Questionnaire 25 to Greek

BACKGROUND Kidney transplantation leads to continuous improvement in the survival rates of kidney transplant recipients(KTRs)and has been established as the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage kidney disease.Health-related quality of life(HRQoL)has become an important outcome measure.It is highly important to develop reliable methods to evaluate HRQoL with disease-specific questionnaires.AIM To translate the disease-specific instrument Kidney Transplant Questionnaire 25(KTQ-25)to the Greek language and perform a cross-cultural adaptation.METHODS The translation and adaptation of the original English version of the KTQ-25 to the Greek language were performed based on the International Quality of Life RESULTS Eighty-four KTRs(59 males;mean age 53.5±10.7 years;mean estimated glomerular filtration rate 47.7±15.1 mL/min/1.73 m2;mean transplant vintage 100.5±83.2 months)completed the Greek version of the KTQ-25 and the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey,and the results were used to evaluate the reliability of the Greek KTQ-25.The Cronbach alpha coefficients for all the KTQ-25 dimensions were satisfactory(physical symptoms=0.639,fatigue=0.856,uncertainty/fear=0.661,appearance=0.593,emotions=0.718,total score=0.708).The statistically significant correlation coefficients among the KTQ-25 dimensions ranged from 0.226 to 0.644.The correlation coeffi-cients of the KTQ-25 dimensions with the SF-36 physical component summary(PCS)ranged from 0.196 to 0.550;the correlation coefficients of the KTQ-25 with the SF-36 mental component summary(MCS)ranged from 0.260 to 0.655;and the correlation coefficients of the KTQ-25 with the total scores with the SF-36 PCS and MCS were 0.455 and 0.613,respectively.CONCLUSION According to the findings,the Greek version of the KTQ-25 is valid and reliable for administration among kidney transplant patients in Greece.

Cardiovascular disease: Risk factors and applicability of a risk model in a Greek cohort of renal transplant recipients

AIM To investigate the incidence and the determinants of cardiovascular morbidity in Greek renal transplant recipients(RTRs) expressed as major advance cardiac event(MACE) rate. METHODS Two hundred and forty-two adult patients with a functioning graft for at least three months and availabledata that were followed up on the August 31, 2015 at two transplant centers of Western Greece were included in this study. Baseline recipients' data elements included demographics, clinical characteristics, history of comorbid conditions and laboratory parameters. Follow-up data regarding MACE occurrence were collected retrospectively from the patients' records and MACE risk score was calculated for each patient. RESULTS The mean age was 53 years(63.6% males) and 47 patients(19.4%) had a pre-existing cardiovascular disease(CVD) before transplantation. The mean estimated glomerular filtration rate was 52 ± 17 mL /min per 1.73 m2. During follow-up 36 patients(14.9%) suffered a MACE with a median time to MACE 5 years(interquartile range: 2.2-10 years). Recipients with a MACE compared to recipients without a MACE had a significantly higher mean age(59 years vs 52 years, P < 0.001) and a higher prevalence of pre-existing CVD(44.4% vs 15%, P < 0.001). The 7-year predicted mean risk for MACE was 14.6% ± 12.5% overall. In RTRs who experienced a MACE, the predicted risk was 22.3% ± 17.1% and was significantly higher than in RTRs without an event 13.3% ± 11.1%(P = 0.003). The discrimination ability of the model in the Greek database of RTRs was good with an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.68(95%CI: 0.58-0.78).CONCLUSION In this Greek cohort of RTRs, MACE occurred in 14.9% of the patients, pre-existing CVD was the main risk factor, while MACE risk model was proved a dependable utility in predicting CVD post RT.