The influence of posttransplant anxiety on the long-term health of patients.

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Transplant Proc. 2006 Oct;38(8):2406-8.

The influence of posttransplant

anxiety on the long-term health of patients.

-San-Gregorio MA, - A, -Dominguez R, -Bernal J.

Hospital Universitario Virgen

del Rocio Sevilla, Spain.

We analyzed whether a high level of anxiety in posttransplant

patients affected their health, namely, symptoms of anxiety and depression and

the quality of life, at 1 year after transplantation. We

selected 166 transplant patients (47% liver, 42.8% kidney, and 10.2% heart) of

mean age 48.91 years (SD = 11.22). The psychological

evaluation was performed in two phases: post-intensive care unit (when the

transplant patients were admitted to the transplant unit) and posthospitalization (1 year after organ transplantation). The instruments applied were a " Psychosocial

Interview, " " The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, " and

" Quality of Life Questionnaire. " The results

showed that a high level of posttransplant anxiety is

harmful in the long term to the health of transplant patients: affected

individuals showed symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as reduced

functioning in social, emotional, physical, and financial areas.

PMID: 17097950 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]