Investigation on living quality of patients after orthotopic cardiac transplantation / 中华器官移植杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate living quality of patients after orthotopic cardiac transplantation and to provide scientific evidence for specific strategy of therapy and improvement of living quality of patients with cardiac transplantation. Methods SF-36 and the social support questionnaire were used to analyze living quality of 79 patients who received orthotopic cardiac transplantation in the Department of Cardiovascular surgery of Affiliated Union Hospital of Fujian Medical University. The mode of SF-36 was from the investigative numerical value of residents in Sichuan province. Description, t-test and Spearman correlation analysis were used to study the related factors. Results Compared with a reference general population, the heart transplant recipients showed a significantly worse living quality score on all domains of the SF-36 scales (P＜0. 05), except the domain of somatic pain. Among the patients after cardiac transplantation, living quality was more significantly improved in ＞2-year survival group than that in ＜one-year survival group (P＜0. 05),except the domain of somatic pain. The relationships between the social support and living quality were analyzed,and it was found that as compared with a reference general population, the heart transplant recipients showed significantly lower scores on all domains of the social support questionnaire (P＜0. 01 ). The total social support scores were positively related to mental health related living quality (P＜0.05, r = 0.223 - 0.710), except the domain of somatic pain. Conclusion Compared with a general population, heart transplant recipients demonstrated a significantly worsened living quality. But evidence showed the living quality can be improved gradually with the prolongation of the survival time after heart transplantation. Social support was related to the living quality of heart transplantation patients. Improvement of availability on social support will probably improve living quality.