Disease-specific quality of life: End-Stage Renal Disease Symptom Checklist –Transplantation Module (ESRD-SCL-TM) in “public domain”

Background: The End-Stage Renal Disease Symptom Checklist – Transplantation Module (ESRD-SCL-TM) was developed to assess the specific physical and psychological quality of life of renal transplant recipients, with a special focus on side effects of immune system suppression therapy. It consists of 43 items in six dimensions: 1) Limited physical capacity, 2) Limited cognitive capacity, 3) Cardiac and renal dysfunction, 4) Side effects of corticosteroids, 5) Increased growth of gum and hair, 6) Transplantation-associated psychological distress, and a global score. All questions are scored on a five-point Likert scale. Methods: 1.687 patients after kidney transplantation (42% female), mean age 48 years (+/- 13, 18-76) served as the normative group. Reliability and validity were investigated; gender- and age-specific Stanine-scores were presented. Results: Minor gender (women scored higher on scales 1, 3, and 6) and moderate age effects (older patients scored higher on scales 1, 2, and 3; younger patients higher on scale 4), and no interactions between the two factors were found. Cronbach’s Alpha was good (scales 1, 2, global score) to moderate (scales 3, 5, 6 > 0.70; scale 4 > 0.60). Correlations with SF-36 Health Survey were to be expected. Conclusion: The ESRD-SCL-TM serves as a short screening tool for assessing disease-specific quality of life of patients after kidney transplantation. Stanine scores <= 6 are unproblematic. A Stanine score ≥ 7 is considered to be increased. Further investigations should be carried out and subsequently appropriate health psychological interventions should be offered.