Patient Quality of Life After Liver Transplantation in Terms of Emotional Problems and the Impact of Sociodemographic Factors

• Published in: Transplantation proceedings 2018-09, Vol.50 (7), p.2031-2038
• Main Authors: Dąbrowska-Bender, M., Kozaczuk, A., Pączek, L., Milkiewicz, P., Słoniewski, R., Staniszewska, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0041-1345; 1873-2623
• DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2018.03.113

Liver transplantation is recognized as an effective and necessary treatment of chronic as well as acute hepatic failure. The assessment of quality of life (QoL) after transplantation represents an ancillary tool to evaluate the efficacy of solid organ transplantation in addition to graft and patient survival rates and complications. The global assessment of QoL after transplantation usually confirms improvement compared to pretransplant conditions. An attempt to evaluate the quality of life of patients after liver transplantation, with particular reference to sociodemographic factors and emotional problems. The study group included 121 patients (55 women and 66 men) at the age of 19 to 71 years who underwent surgery in the Central Teaching Hospital of the Medical University of Warsaw and the Infant Jesus Teaching Hospital in Warsaw, and were subsequently treated in an outpatient transplant clinic. The scoring procedure for the areas analyzed was based on the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Higher patients age was correlated with lower quality of life of patients after liver transplantation, including physical functioning (patients >40 years of age declared lower physical performance, and patients 50 years of age). Women more often than men had worrying thoughts, were feeling tense or wound up, and had sudden feelings of anxiety or panic. By contrast, older people often declared that they felt to be slowed down. To reduce pain and to improve physical performance of the study patients, rehabilitation procedures should be considered. Patients indicating symptoms associated with anxiety and depression should be referred to a clinical psychologist. •The best medical option for chronic hepatic failure is liver transplantation, which provides longer survival and better quality of life.•Liver transplantation is recognized as an effective and necessary method of treatment for chronic as well as acute renal failure.•The global assessment of quality of life after transplantation usually confirms improvement when compared to pretransplant conditions.•The quality of life of patients with a chronic or incurable disease is of particular importance.•The quality of life is a subjective feature, and therefore it can be assessed reliably only by patients who ar