Sickness Symptoms in Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Scoping Review.
Choa Sung, Patricia Ensweiler Hershberger, Mark B Lockwood
PMID 36333867WHAT IT FOUND
Depressive symptoms, anxiety and fatigue are common after kidney transplant, but prevalence varied widely by symptom and instrument.
Nurses should ask about them; the review does not show treatment works.
Key findings
01Depressive symptoms were measured in 23 studies and reported in 4.53% to 75% of kidney transplant recipients.
02Anxiety was addressed in 19 studies, with prevalence from 4.03% to 63.9%.
03Fatigue was measured in nine studies, with prevalence from 5.9% to 59%; severe fatigue was reported in 13% to 59% in three studies.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a scoping review of observational studies, not an intervention trial, so it cannot show that treating symptoms improves outcomes. The authors did not appraise study quality, and the included studies used different symptom instruments and cutoff scores. Most studies were cross-sectional, so they cannot show whether symptoms cause poorer quality of life, adherence, or graft outcomes. Only English peer-reviewed observational studies in adults were included, so children and other settings were not covered. The medication adherence evidence was mixed, with two studies reporting significant associations and two reporting no significant association. Symptom clustering was not confirmed because the reviewed studies used correlation and regression rather than cluster analysis.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The article is listed as NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the high symptom prevalence as proof that treating depression, anxiety, or fatigue after kidney transplant will improve outcomes. This review mapped observational studies and did not test treatments or assess study quality.