Psychosocial Wellbeing in Lung Transplants Before and After the COVID-19 Vaccine

Lung transplant recipients are vulnerable to respiratory infections because of their compromised immune response. Limited research has been published on mental health as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic on lung transplant recipients, and uncertainty remains whether the COVID-19 vaccine affected mental health in lung transplant recipients.

In this longitudinal, retrospective study, we assessed the psychosocial wellbeing of lung transplant recipients during the COVID-19 pandemic at 2 different time points (before and after COVID-19 vaccination). We measured wellbeing with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (cutoff of 11 points indicated anxiety and depression) and the Symptom Checklist consisting of 9 questions.

Our study included 83 patients (mean age 52.4 ± 14.5 years, 55.4% male). Among the patients, 3.8% and 4.8% of patients with cystic fibrosis had abnormal values for anxiety before and after the vaccine, respectively; abnormal values for depression were shown in 0% and 2.4% of patients with cystic fibrosis before and after the vaccine, respectively. Sex, age, level of education, time since transplant, and chronic allograft dysfunction were not significantly associated with psychosocial wellbeing. Vaccination against COVID-19 was not associated with a change in psychosocial wellbeing.

We found no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine affected the psychosocial wellbeing of lung transplant recipients. However, it may be important to monitor wellbeing closely during a pandemic, especially in patients with cystic fibrosis.