Page 28 - Exploring the Potential of Self-Monitoring Kidney Function After Transplantation - Céline van Lint
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Chapter 2
Clinical data
Creatinine and blood pressure values that were recorded by the patients were exported from the DMS database. Number of registered measurements was counted per 3-week study period (week 1-3, week 4-6, etc.). Laboratory creatinine and eGFR (according to the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) Study equation) were exported from the hospital system. Average eGFR was calculated per 3-week study period for each individual patient.
Statistical analyses
Descriptive statistics were calculated for patients’ creatinine, kidney function, blood pressure (Mean Arterial Pressure, MAP) and anti-hypertensive treatment, as well as for level of general satisfaction, experience with using the devices, self-monitoring skills and experienced autonomy support. When applicable, scores on the five-point Likert scales were grouped into three categories to describe patients’ views: don’t agree (score ≤2), agree (score ≥4) or neutral (score 3). T-tests were used to assess whether patients’ self-monitoring experiences differed between the creatinine and blood pressure device. Paired samples t-tests were used to compare baseline and follow-up scores regarding satisfaction and self-monitoring skills. To investigate whether specific patient characteristics were related to experiences and attitudes, Pearson’s correlations were computed with a pre-set subset of patient characteristics that was derived from the literature, being age, gender, level of trust in accuracy of the devices (creatinine and blood pressure), support from the physician to be autonomous, self-efficacy regarding self-monitoring and transplant related worries.
Adherence to measurement frequency according to protocol was calculated by dividing the number of online registered measurements per week by the number of requested measurements per week. This procedure has been used before to calculate adherence to self-monitoring blood glucose.37
All statistical analyses were performed with SPSS version 20.0. P-values of <.05 were considered significant.
