Psychiatric disorders and outcome following cardiac transplantation.
BACKGROUND
Psychosocial factors are frequently included in determining candidacy for cardiac transplantation. Although there are some data demonstrating a link between preoperative psychosocial status and postoperative outcome, a definitive answer has yet to be reached.


METHODS
We studied 107 consecutive patients, transplanted from January 1990 to September 1991, with a retrospective review of pretransplant psychiatric evaluations to define a DSM III-R Axis I diagnosis. The medical outcome data included 1-year survival, rehospitalizations, infections, and rejection episodes, gathered from the transplant database.


RESULTS
There were no discernable differences between the groups with (n = 25) and without (n = 82) a DSM III-R Axis I psychiatric disorder prior to transplant in the evaluation of demographic data and medical outcome variables.


CONCLUSIONS
These data demonstrate that individuals with a history of psychiatric disorder who are carefully selected for compliance with medical care display no inherent difference from individuals without psychiatric disorder in medical outcome and survival at 1 year after cardiac transplantation.
Skotzko
C E
CE
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Baltimore 21201, USA.
Rudis
R
R
Kobashigawa
J A
JA
Laks
H
H
D000328:Adult; D002423:Cause of Death; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000453:epidemiology; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011593:Psychology, Social; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome