Long-term quality of life of liver transplant recipients beyond 60 years of age

Abstract

Due to ameliorated surgery as well as better immunosuppression, the recipient age after liver transplantation has been extended over the past years. This study aimed to investigate the health related quality of life after liver transplantation in recipients beyond 60 years of age. The SF-36 was used to evaluate the recipients' health-related quality of life as standardized tool. It comprises 36 items that are attributed to 8 subscales attributed to 2 components: the physical component score and the mental component score. Differences in the health-related quality of life between the included aged recipients and age-matched general population as well as among female and male recipients. Aged recipients showed significantly lower scores in physical functioning (29 vs. 76, p=0.001), role physical (42 vs. 73, p=0.003), bodily pain (34 vs. 71, p=0.003), general health (28 vs. 59, p=0.001), vitality (25 vs. 61, p=0.001), social functioning (36 vs. 87, p=0.001), role emotional (46 vs. 89, p=0.001) as well as the physical component score (28 vs. 76, p= 0.001). Aged female recipients showed lower results as compared to males in social functioning, physical functioning, role physical, and social functioning (p= 0.03 respectively) but comparable results in the remaining. Quality of life seems to be an issue among aged recipients and should be assessed on a regular basis.

‘Back to Life’—Using knowledge exchange processes to enhance lifestyle interventions for liver transplant recipients: A qualitative study

“…While quality of life improves after transplant, participants of the present study described ongoing issues associated with mental health and emotional resilience that may impact on health‐related decision making . Unique emotional stressors such as survivor guilt and post‐traumatic stress are recognised in organ transplant recipients .…”

“…While quality of life improves after transplant, participants of the present study described ongoing issues associated with mental health and emotional resilience that may impact on health-related decision making. 18 Unique emotional stressors such as survivor guilt and post-traumatic stress are recognised in organ transplant recipients. [19][20][21][22] Study participants indicated that before they could address their diet and exercise needs, they needed better strategies to cope with the insecurity and uncertainty associated with survival; and also needed the physical and emotional resources to deal with their current medical issues.…”

Liver transplantation in elderly patients: what do we know at the beginning of 2020?

“…However, there is no consensus regarding the optimal patient selection process in this population and the costeffectiveness of transplanting older patients as opposed to younger patients has not been addressed. Moreover, quality of life, one of the secondary goals of transplantation, has not been sufficiently studied in older recipients [61]. The place of retransplantation in elderly patients also remains unclear.…”

Health-Related Quality of Life in patients with hepatitis C in double and triple therapy

“…Lately, Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) has gained prominence as a tool to assess the impact of chronic diseases and their treatments on the perception of health and patient well-being (4,(9)(10) . For this purpose, Short Form 36 (SF-36), a generic instrument, and Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ), which is specifically for HRQoL analysis in patients with chronic liver disease, have been used (11) .…”

“…Studies have shown that untreated patients with chronic hepatitis C and those undergoing antiviral therapy with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin present significant diminished quality of life indices (4,(9)(10)(12)(13) . However, in Brazil there is the perspective of providing more effective drugs and with fewer adverse events, and triple therapy with telaprevir will possibly remain as a therapeutic option.…”