The psychological well-being of patients after lung transplantation is not significantly different from that in the general population, results of a small study suggest. However, increased psychological distress was found in a subgroup of transplant patients.

Dr. Lutz Goetzmann and colleagues from University Hospital Zurich examined the psychological state of patients who had undergone lung transplantation, and compared it with data obtained from the average population. In addition, they assessed correlations between psychological and physical parameters.

Overall, 125 patients underwent lung transplantation at University Hospital Zurich between 1992 and 2002. The team assessed psychosocial variables, including levels of anxiety and Depression, self-esteem, and social support, using standardized questionnaires.

Self-assessments of physical and psychological health were also obtained. The treating physicians provided medical data, including information on lung function, complications, and physical and psychological assessments.

A total of 50 patients, including 23 women and 27 men, were included in the study. The patients were an average of 43 years old. Forty-nine patients underwent transplant of two lungs and one underwent transplant of one lung. The average time since the surgery was four years.

The investigators observed a similar overall degree of anxiety and depression between the lung transplant recipients and responses from samples of an average population.

Fourteen patients had clinically significant or borderline anxiety and five patients had clinically significant or borderline depression.

Self-esteem ratings were similar in patients and the healthy subjects.

Sixteen patients reported a pulmonary complication within 6 months of the survey, and 20 patients reported a nonpulmonary complication. Pulmonary complications were associated with higher anxiety levels. However, nonpulmonary complications did not have this effect.

“A comparison between women and men revealed that men were significantly more depressed than women,” Goetzmann’s team reports in the journal Chest. However, there were no significant differences between men and women for all for all other psychosocial variables, lung function tests and rates of chronic rejection.

The researchers call for further studies to examine whether awareness and psychological support may improve well-being in this population.

SOURCE: Chest, January 2005.