Quality of life of candidates for and recipients of heart transplants.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the quality of life (QOL) of candidates for and recipients of heart transplants over a five-year period.


METHODS
Descriptive, longitudinal.


METHODS
Canadian university-affiliated tertiary care medical centre.


METHODS
Sixty-five candidates for heart transplantation; after one year, six candidates were still awaiting transplantation; 42 patients received transplants and were included in the study six months post-transplant.


METHODS
Three measures of QOL were used: the Index of Well-Being, Cantril's Self-Anchoring Striving Scale and the "time-trade-off technique'.


METHODS
Data were collected before transplantation, six months post-transplantation, one year post-transplantation and annually for the next four years; for individuals who did not receive transplants, data were collected six months and one year after the first interview.


RESULTS
QOL scores were considerably higher after than before transplantation, and compared favourably with norms for the general population. For 11 individuals who did not receive transplants, QOL remained low. QOL for heart transplant recipients was remarkably stable over the five-year study period. The major predictors of QOL for candidates awaiting transplantation were health status, outlook and ability to work. After transplantation, the major predictors of QOL were outlook, health status and employment status.


CONCLUSIONS
There is evidence to suggest that QOL improves after heart transplantation, and that improvement is relatively stable over time. Further work is needed to identify the factors that could result in improvements in QOL.
Molzahn
A E
AE
University of Alberta, Edmonton. amolzahn@hsd.uvic.ca
Burton
J R
JR
McCormick
P
P
Modry
D L
DL
Soetaert
P
P
Taylor
P
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013997:Time Factors