Childhood Abuse Is Associated With Worse Survival Following Lung Transplantation.

CONTEXT: Psychosocial factors can impact lung transplant outcomes. However, it is currently unknown whether abuse survivorship influences lung transplant survival.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the abuse history of adult lung transplant patients and determine whether such history is associated with mortality.

PATIENTS AND OTHER

PARTICIPANTS

Adult lung transplant recipients evaluated from 2000 to 2004.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome was post-lung transplantation survival. The secondary outcomes included demographic, transplantation, or psychological assessment differences between those with a history of abuse survivorship and those without.

RESULTS

Thirty-three lung transplant recipients (35.5% male, median age: 55 years) were included. A history of abuse survivorship was common (24.2%) and was associated with decreased survival following lung transplantation (P = .003). There was no difference in sex, marital status, or smoking history between abuse survivors and those who denied being the victim of abuse. Abuse survivors had a higher Personality Assessment Screener total score, a measure of maladaptive personality traits (P = .02).

CONCLUSION

Abuse survivorship is common in lung transplant patients and associated with increased posttransplant mortality and increased maladaptive personality traits. This preliminary evidence suggests that lung transplant patients should be screened for abuse history and provided with appropriate treatment of survivorship issues to potentially improve their health outcomes from transplantation.