title: Health-related quality of life in two hundred-eighty lung transplant recipients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has increasingly been accepted as a supplementary outcome measure for patients after lung transplantation (LTx).
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a retrospective cross-sectional study design, 280 LTx recipients (3 months to 14 years after LTx) were asked to assess their HRQoL using a generic (Quality of Life Profile for Chronic Diseases) questionnaire, which was previously validated for this specific population. In addition, the questionnaire was also performed by 155 healthy participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All sub-scale findings ranged from 2.40 to 3.08 (0 to 4) for all patients after LTx. A significantly reduced HRQoL was reported by the sub-cohort of patients living 5 to 6 years with the allograft for all sub-scales (p < 0.006), except for Social Functioning, and was associated with the incidence of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS; p < 0.05). Cystic fibrosis patients (p < 0.05), single-lung transplant recipients (p < 0.05) and patients of older age (p < 0.05) showed significantly decreased physical ability ratings. Patients who remained free of infection and late acute rejection episodes scored themselves significantly higher with regard to their Relaxation Capabilities (p < 0.05 for rejection; p < 0.05 for infection) and Social Functioning (p < 0.01 for rejection; p < 0.05 for infection) vs patients who experienced infection or rejection episodes. Comparisons with a normative cohort showed similar HRQoL scales for LTx patients and the healthy population, except with regard to Social Functioning (p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-ratings for HRQoL were high for all dimensions for the entire sample, and remained relatively similar even for medium- and long-term survivors. HRQoL was dependent on incidence of infections, rejections and the onset of BOS. Despite differences in life expectancy of LTx patients compared with the healthy population, HRQoL self-ratings were within similar ranges.
authors.affiliation: Hannover Thoracic Transplant Program, Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. kugler@thg.mh-hannover.de
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kugler
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gottlieb
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Welte
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haverich
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strueber
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D016040:Lung Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017741:Survivors