*Purpose: They said that kidney transplantation was better than dialysis about patient survival and quality of life. However, there have been no large-scale Japanese studies investigating sick leave due to kidney transplantation for end stage renal disease patients. We clarified differences in cumulative partial and full return to work (RTW) rate among Japanese kidney transplant patients.

*Methods: We included kidney transplant patients who received kidney transplantation at working-age and were visiting to our outpatient clinic. We collected clinical information from medical records, and subjects about work answered a self-administered questionnaire. Study outcomes were the rate of RTW one year after transplantation and the factors of early RTW.

*Results: There were 515 patients (350 male and 165 female) who experienced their first episode of sick leave due to kidney transplantation. Of the subjects, 36.1% returned to work full time within 3 months of their transplant day, and 76.7% by 12 months. The cumulative RTW rate varied significantly by pre-transplant working form. There were considerable differences in the range of cumulative full RTW rates between the three categories (no-work, partial work and full work before transplantation): 39.3%, 73.8% and 90.3% (p<0.0001). Additionally, male, householder, short duration of dialysis before transplantation, non-peritoneal dialysis may be associated with early RTW.

*Conclusions: More than three-fourth recipients returned to work full time within 365-day period following their transplant day, with cumulative RTW rates varying by pre-transplant working form.

« Back to 2019 American Transplant Congress