More than 50% of kidney transplant recipients report employment
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In The Netherlands, 56% of kidney transplant recipients reported employment, according to data published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Further, recipients with stable employment report that they function well at work.
“Little is known about work functioning among employed kidney transplant recipients. It is important to gain more insight into this topic because low work functioning could result in sickness absence, work disability and unemployment,” Tim J. Knobbe, MD, from the department of internal medicine in the division of nephrology at the University Medical Center Gronigen in The Netherlands, and colleagues wrote. They added, “In this study, we therefore aimed to investigate the proportion of employed kidney transplant recipients in comparison with controls.”
In the ongoing, prospective TransplantLines Biobank and Cohort study, researchers evaluated 668 kidney transplant recipients of working age at a median of 3 years after transplantation, 246 potential kidney donors of working age and 553 community-dwelling employed adults.
Researchers administered the 27-item Work Role Functioning Questionnaire 2.0 to transplant recipients to determine their health-related work function. The results of transplant recipients were compared with those of potential kidney donors and community-dwelling employed adults. Researchers also measured the adverse events related to immunosuppressive therapy and other clinical variables.
Using linear regression analyses, researchers determined potential correlations with work-related and clinical variables.
Overall, 56% of kidney transplant recipients were employed and 79% of potential donors were employed. Employed kidney transplant recipients showed a lower work functioning score than employed potential donors; however, their score was higher than the community-dwelling employed adults.
Among kidney transplant recipients, lower educational level, having a kidney from a deceased donor, tingling or numbness of hands or feet, concentration/memory problems, anxiety and severe fatigue were independently associated with lower work function. Further, analyses revealed that work functioning scores were lower before transplantation than at 12 months after transplantation.
“Despite the prevalent side effects of immunosuppressive therapy and the high prevalence of fatigue, employed stable kidney transplant recipients report to function well at work,” Knobbe and colleagues wrote. They added, “The results in our study are highly encouraging, and they demonstrate a clear message to employers that kidney transplant recipients can function very well at work. These findings can therefore help to reduce any stigmas regarding work and work functioning after kidney transplantation. It is important to note that the observed work functioning can only be determined for employed kidney transplant recipients, who were generally younger and healthier compared with the unemployed transplant recipients in our study. Work functioning may, therefore, be worse among unemployed kidney transplant recipients if they would get a job.”
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