Symptom Experience and Related Predictors in Liver Transplantation Recipients

Symptom experience after liver transplantation (LT) provides healthcare professionals with important information about the benefits and limitations of LT from patients' perspective. This study aims to explore the multidimensional symptom experience and analyze related predictive factors in LT recipients.

This cross-sectional study evaluated the occurrence, frequency, intensity, and level of distress of 40 symptoms in 265 LT recipients. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to analyze the influencing factors of symptom experience.

The analysis of patient-reported data indicated that the ten most common symptoms were fatigue (42.3%), frequent sleep interruptions (38.9%), difficulty falling asleep (35.9%), decreased memory (34.0%), dreaminess (29.8%), itch (28.7%), muscular weakness (26.4%), shortness of breath (25.3%), anxiety (24.5%), and hand tremor (21.9%). Patients were classified into four groups according to survival time (1-month, 2-6-month, 7-12-month, and >1-year groups) after LT, and the most common symptom was fatigue in the one-month and 2-6-month groups, difficulty falling asleep in the 7-12-month group, and decreased memory in the >1-year group. Type of the primary caregiver, complications, concerns about the decreased ability to perform household and outdoor activities, and concerns about being a burden to the family were predictors of symptoms burden.

LT recipients experienced complicated symptoms. In clinical practice, it is critical to integrate physicians, nurses, and social workers as a medical team to help LT recipients develop suitable coping strategies that can potentially address patients' concerns, increase the sense of confidence, and improve symptom outcomes.