Assessment of Quality of Life Among Patients After Lung Transplantation: A Single-Center Study

Lung transplantation (LTx) is the only effective method of treatment to improve the health and quality of life (QoL) of patients with end-stage lung diseases. After LTx, medical examination accompanied by quality of life assessment should be performed on routine follow-up visits. The aim of the study was to assess the QoL of patients after LTx.

The study group consisted of 60 patients (29 women and 31 men); 20 patients received single lung transplantation (SLT), and 40 received double lung transplantation (DLT). To determine the patient's QoL, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the World Health Organization Quality of Life Test-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), and the Saint George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) were used. Spirometry and the 6-minute walk test were analyzed to examine efficiency of transplanted organs.

In SGRQ there are differences between patients with cystic fibrosis and interstitial lung disease in symptom domain (20.28% vs 39.26%, P = .025) and total score (19.38% vs 32.47%, P = .028). As reported in the GHQ, men had worse overall results than women in sten scale (5.22 points vs 4.69 points). Patients after SLT achieved similar scores in every questionnaire.

Studies assessing QoL should be an important addition to lung function tests and an integral part of control during postoperative follow-up visits. This study is one of the important contributions to understanding of how essential QoL is after LTx. The authors of this study realize that their work does not cover the whole issue, and further studies in this area are warranted.