Assessment of quality of life and related stressors following liver transplantation.

The aim of this descriptive study was to identify and compare transplant-associated stressors among 30 adult liver transplant recipients following orthotopic transplantation for primary biliary cirrhosis. Recipients were divided in three groups according to length of time following transplantation: 12 months (group A), 1 to 5 years (group B), and 5 or more years (group C). With the use of a recipient stressor scale and a rating scale assessing health-related quality of live, patients were asked to indicate a degree of concern for 25 items. In addition, participants were asked to define quality of life before and after liver transplantation and to attribute a degree of positivity or negativity to 33 items in the subscales of physical health, physical activity, social activity, and general effect. Results from the stressor analysis identified health-related items, in particular the "possibility of rejection," as causing the greatest concern to respondents. Social and family-related items were considered least stressful. Comparative statistical analysis identified group B as significantly more stressed than either group A or group C.