Sport Activity and Health-Related Quality of Life After Kidney Transplantation

ObjectiveConsidering the importance of sport activity for enhancing quality of life, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of regular sport activity on quality of life of kidney transplant recipients.MethodsHealth-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed with the use of the SF-36 questionnaire on a group of 118 active kidney transplant patients (AKTPs) practicing different sports at low to moderate intensity (5 ± 4 h/wk). Scores were compared with those of 79 sedentary kidney transplant patients (SKTPs) and with 120 active healthy control subjects (AHCs).ResultsAKTPs reported higher scores than SKTPs in the SF-36 scales of Physical Functioning (P < .05), Role Limitations due to Physical Problems (P < .05), General Health (P < .01), Vitality (P < .05), Social Functioning (P < .05), Role Limitations due to Emotional Problems (P < .05), and Mental Health (P < .01). AKTPs obtained higher scores than AHCs on the Mental Health (P < .01) and Social Functioning scales (P < .01) and similar scores (P > .05) on all the other scales. The effect of quantity of sport activity was significant on the General Health (P < .01; η2 = 0.05), and Role Physical scales (P = .04; η2 = 0.03), with higher sport activity associated with higher HRQoL. The effect of sex was significant for Bodily Pain (P = .05; η2 = 0.02), Vitality (P = .08; η2 = 0.06), Social Functioning (P = .08; η2 = 0.05), and Mental Health (P = .05; η2 = 0.02), with male participants scoring higher than female participants.ConclusionsThis study indicates that regular sport activity significantly improves different dimensions of HRQoL among kidney transplant recipients. The benefits of sport activity go beyond its impact on physical health to involve psychologic and social components of quality of life. Spontaneous and low to moderate sport activity may play an important role after kidney transplantation that has been largely underestimated in the literature.