Quality of life in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients prior to and after pancreas and kidney transplantation in relation to organ function

Improvement of the quality of life in Type 1 (insulin-dependent)
diabetic patients with severe late complications is one of the main
goals of pancreas and/or kidney grafting. To assess the influences
of these treatment modalities on the different aspects of the
quality of life a cross-sectional study in 157 patients was
conducted. They were categorized into patients pre-transplant
without dialysis (n=29; Group A), pre-transplant under dialysis
(n=44; Group B), post-transplant with pancreas and kidney
functioning (n=31; Group C), post-transplant with functioning
kidney, but insulin therapy (n=29; Group D), post-transplant under
dialysis and insulin therapy again (n=15; Group E) and patients
after single pancreas transplantation and rejection, with good
renal function, but insulin therapy (n=9; Group F). All patients
answered a mailed, self-administered questionnaire (217 questions)
consisting of a broad spectrum of rehabilitation criteria. The
results indicate a better quality of life in Groups C and D as
compared to the other groups. In general the scores are highest in
C, but without any significant difference to D. Impressive
significant differences between C or D and the other groups were
found especially in their satisfaction with physical capacity,
leisure-time activities or the overall quality of life. The
satisfaction with the latter is highest in C (mean±SEM: 4.0±0.2 on
a 1 to 5-rating scale; significantly different from A: 3.1±0.1, B:
2.7±0.2 and E: 2.6±0.3; p