OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to compare health care workers’ perceptions on the quality of life (QoL) after renal transplantation (RTX) with expectations of RTX candidates and actual QoL of RTX patients. METHODS: A comparative study design was used for the comparison of health care workers’ perceived and patients’ expected and actual QoL after RTX. The EQ-5D self-report questionnaire was used as QoL measure. Health state descriptions as well as valuations on a visual analogue scale (VAS) were collected. Sixty-two RTX candidates were surveyed and followed longitudinally from November 1999 until May 2000. Twelve patients were transplanted and surveyed again two weeks after discharge from hospital. All health care workers (N=123) had regular contact with dialysis or RTX patients. “Raw” VAS scores were analysed as well as EQ index scores assigned to health state descriptions from patients and health care workers. Given the non-normality of the data, non-parametric tests were used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Preliminary results show that health care workers’ perceptions on QoL after RTX were significantly lower than patients’ expectations (P<0,0005). Two weeks after discharge, the twelve transplanted patients showed moderate improvement in VAS scores for actual health pre- to post-transplantation (P<0,05). Pre-transplant QoL expectations were not (yet?) fulfilled for most patients. Finally, transplant nurses’ valuations were closer to patients’ actual QoL after transplantation (P>0,20) than nurses’ on other wards. CONCLUSIONS: The preliminary results are based on a small sample of patients. As patients will be followed-up further in the future (at 4, 8 and 12 months after RTX) and more patients will be included, more results will be available to show how patients’ actual QoL evolves after RTX and how this evolution compares to their expectations before transplantation. These results will be presented at the meeting.