Personality, illness perceptions, and lung function (FEV1) in 50 patients after lung transplantation

After lung transplantation little attention has been devoted to patient's personality and illness perceptions, although the importance of illness perceptions (e.g. to the psychosocial status of health) as well as the relationship between personality and illness perceptions is well-known from other areas of medicine.

Fifty patients more than one year after lung transplantation were surveyed by the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) as well as the "control" and "consequences" scales of the Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ). Medical data included the diagnoses of the underlying lung diseases and the pulmonary graft function as measured by the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)).

In our patients, mean values of the personality factors "extraversion" (p=.003), "openness to experiences" (p<.001), "agreeableness" (p=.035), and "conscientiousness" (p<.001) were significantly higher compared to the normal population. "Openness to experiences" correlated positively and "neuroticism" negatively with the illness perception "control". There was no correlation between illness perceptions and lung function.

In lung transplant recipients, personality traits are more relevant to illness perceptions ("control") than current graft function.