Liver versus cardiothoracic transplant candidates and their pretransplant psychosocial and behavioral risk profiles: good neighbors or complete strangers?

Abstract

Research concerning pretransplant psychosocial and behavioral characteristics in different organ transplant groups is limited. The aim was to assess relevant psychosocial and behavioral pretransplant factors in heart, lung and liver transplant candidates, and their differences among groups. One hundred and eighty-six transplant candidates (i.e. 71 lung, 33 heart and 82 liver) were included (93% response rate). Demographics, clinical variables, co-morbidity, anxiety, depression, personality traits, received social support and adherence with the therapeutic regimen were assessed using validated self-report instruments and chart review. Because of significant differences in gender, age and co-morbidity among groups, analyses were controlled for these factors. Lung (8.2 +/- 4.2) and heart (7.6 +/- 3.5) transplant candidates tended to report more depressive symptoms than liver transplant candidates (6.5 +/- 4.8) (P = 0.05). Groups were comparable for other factors, except for liver transplant candidates being more frequently active smokers (22%) compared with heart (3%) and lung candidates (0%), and more heart (36.4%) and lung candidates (33.3%) drinking alcohol than liver transplant candidates (6.3%). Psychosocial and behavioral characteristics are comparable among pretransplant candidates. Instead of performing the pretransplant psychosocial and behavioral screening in an organ-specific fashion, our data support the use of a more general screening protocol.