Childhood Abuse Is Associated With Worse Survival Following Lung Transplantation

Psychosocial factors can impact lung transplant outcomes. However, it is currently unknown whether abuse survivorship influences lung transplant survival.

To characterize the abuse history of adult lung transplant patients and determine whether such history is associated with mortality.

Adult lung transplant recipients evaluated from 2000 to 2004.

The main outcome was post-lung transplantation survival. The secondary outcomes included demographic, transplantation, or psychological assessment differences between those with a history of abuse survivorship and those without.

Thirty-three lung transplant recipients (35.5% male, median age: 55 years) were included. A history of abuse survivorship was common (24.2%) and was associated with decreased survival following lung transplantation (P = .003). There was no difference in sex, marital status, or smoking history between abuse survivors and those who denied being the victim of abuse. Abuse survivors had a higher Personality Assessment Screener total score, a measure of maladaptive personality traits (P = .02).

Abuse survivorship is common in lung transplant patients and associated with increased posttransplant mortality and increased maladaptive personality traits. This preliminary evidence suggests that lung transplant patients should be screened for abuse history and provided with appropriate treatment of survivorship issues to potentially improve their health outcomes from transplantation.