Depression and quality of life in elementary and junior high school students after renal transplantation

Abstract

We measured depression in Japanese child and adolescent recipients of kidney transplants and examined the relation between depression and quality of life (QOL). The survey comprised 35 recipients (7–15 years old, 22 elementary-school children, 13 junior-high-school children, 4.2 ± 2.9 years after transplant，living donor 74.3%) who completed a mail-back questionnaire survey. We administered the Birleson Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSRSC) to assess depression and the KINDL^Ⓡ questionnaires (KINDL) for QOL. Of the 35 patients, 14.3% met the criteria for depression (16 ≦ DSRSC), representing 13.6% of elementary-school and 15.4% of junior-high-school children. In elementary-school children, score of the QOL domain in schools was lower than the standard value of healthy subjects. In junior-high-school children, score of the QOL domain of self-esteem was higher than the standard value. The total score of QOL was lower in high-depression group than low-depression group. Our results indicated that it is important to take into account depression and the QOL domains correlated with depression in both child and adolescent transplant recipients.