Self-Esteem Related to Quality of Life in Patients Over 60 Years Old Who Received an Orthotopic Liver Transplantation More Than 10 Years Ago

Abstract

Background: Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) represents an improvement in the quality of life (QoL) in the short to medium term. However, there is little information about QoL in the long-term post-transplant and its relation with psychological variables such as self-esteem.

Objective: To analyze the perceived QoL in relation to the level of self-esteem in patients over 60 years of age who received an OLT more than 10 years ago.

Materials and methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Including patients from the Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca (HCUVA).

Instrument: to evaluate the QoL: EuroQol-5D questionnaire; to evaluate health status: 1. social transfer index and 2. visual analog scale (VAS); to measure self-esteem level: Rosenberg scale. Sociodemographic and clinical variables. Nonparametric analysis (P < .05).

Results: Analyzed 46 patients, 70% men (n = 32) and 30% women (n = 14); mean age of 70.85 ± 6.7 years and mean years of post-OLT survival of 15.91 ± 5.3 years. Average score in QoL: 0.8 ± 0.17 in the social transfer index and 77.07 ± 16.82 in the VAS. Average level of self-esteem: 34 ± 3.55 point. When analyzing the variables, there are no differences in age or post-OLT years. There are significant differences according to sex (P = .001). However, the diagnosis influences the patient's perception of QoL (P < .001). The post-OLT survival correlates negatively with social transfer index (P = .017) and self-esteem level (P = .045). In addition, those patients living in the city presented a higher level of self-esteem (P = .03).

Conclusion: Sex, diagnosis, post-OLT years, social environment, and place of residence have an influence on the QoL and self-esteem of patients.