[Evaluation of quality of life in patients with liver transplant]

Complications in patients with liver transplant may occur in less than 10 % of cases. These appear in short and/or long term and are due to a vascular or biliary cause, rejection, recurrence of the disease or adverse effects of immunosuppression, among others, which may affect the quality of life. The aim of this article is to evaluate the quality of life in patients with deceased donor liver transplantation through the questionnaire SF-36.

A descriptive cross-sectional study. The quality of life of patients with deceased donor liver transplantation was assessed during the period from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2012. The variables evaluated were: age, sex, time and main reason for transplantation and quality of life using the short form SF-36 version 1.1 for Mexican population.

37 patients were included. The mean age was 48.7 years. The most frequent cause was cirrhosis (n = 35). The highest average score corresponded to the mental health component, and the lowest score to the physical component. The average time of liver transplantation was 6.73 ± 3.53 years.

Liver transplantation is still the most effective treatment for end-stage liver disease. It can increase the patient's life expectancy and their quality of life, assessed with the SF-36 questionnaire. The results were similar to those in other studies in both the physical and mental component.