[Testament's ability in Balkan endemic nephropathy]

Testament is a solemn, authentic instrument in writing, by which a person declares his or her will as to disposal of his or her estate, and it has a psychopathological, lawful and ethical importance to a person, family and society. The aim of the study was to assess if the ability to make a testament was more damaged in patients with Balkan Endemic Nephropathy (BEN) than in patients with other diseases that resulted in Chronic Renal Failure in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from the 1st January 2001 to 31st December 2006.

The 753 respondents were divided into two groups in the study: BEN group (n=150) and control group made of patients with other diseases resulting in CRF (n=150). In a multicentric longitudinal study we used: adapted questionnaire from the Renal Register of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and Mini-Mental State Examination. Descriptive analysis, discriminative function and regression model have been done statistically.

In BEN group, heirs are mostly mentioned - 84.0% (t=14.391; P=0.001), and in control group: heirs - 66.6%, relatives - 43.3% (t=7.751; P=0.003), carers - 44.0% (t= 6.678 P=0.032), and institutions 10.0% (t=5.147, P=0.061). The discriminative function shows differences between BEN and control group: canonical correlation (rc) =0.827, Wilkinson lambda (lambda nj) =0.871, Chi-square test =141.575 and significance (P=0.001). The regression course of the analysis can be used for prediction of the ability to make testament for the patients on dialysis. [y=-0.95x + 15.715, and OR = 0.785, (95%) for CI = -0.997 - -0.375); Can Fanc r2=0.861: Significance is P=0.002].

The ability to make a testament is more damaged in patients from the nephropathy group than in the patients from the control group who are on dialysis in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This has been confirmed by socio-demographic and psychological parameters, and it is very important for preservation of the ethic norms of the patients on dialysis, responsibility of the expert teams and persons who are benefitiaries of the testament.