Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients Receiving Low-toxicity Immunosuppressive Regimens:. A Substudy of the Symphony Study

Objective. To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with different low-toxicity regimens post-transplantation. Methods. One hundred fifty-six patients were randomized to standard-dose cyclosporine A (CsA), mycophenolate mofetil, and corticosteroids or daclizumab induction, mycophenolate mofetil, and corticosteroids with a low dose of CsA, tacrolimus (Low-Tac), or sirolimus. SF-36 Health survey was completed at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Results. There were no differences between groups in SF-36 at baseline or at month 12. Low-Tac showed higher scores at month 3 than standard-dose CsA and low dose of CsA. Patients with serum creatinine less than or equal to 1.5 mg/mL had better HRQoL at 6 and 12 months. Proportion of these patients was higher in Low-Tac at 6 months. Physical component summary of Patients increased during follow-up, but mental component summary did not. Patients with acute rejection showed lower mental component summary at 6 months. Conclusions. No HRQoL differences were identified among groups, but the low-dose Tac group showed the fastest improvement