Lung Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Lung Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Prevalence and impact of pain on the quality of life of lung transplant recipients: a prospective observational study.

Girard F, Chouinard P, Boudreault D, Poirier C, Richard C, Ruel M, Ferraro P

Department of Anesthesiology, CHUM Hopital Notre-Dame, Montreal, Canada, H2L 4M1. francois.girard.chum@ssss.gouv.qc.ca

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence and impact of pain on the quality of life (QOL) of lung transplant recipients. Design and patients: Prospective, observational, cross-sectional study. Ninety-six lung transplant recipients (> 3 months after transplantation) completed questionnaires measuring the severity and impact of pain (Brief Pain Inventory), anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Inventory), QOL (Short Form-36 version 2 [SF-36v2]), and depression (Beck Depression Inventory [BDI]). SETTING: University medical center lung transplant outpatient clinic. RESULTS: The prevalence of pain in lung transplant recipients was 49%. Patients with pain were older, more likely to have undergone unilateral lung transplantation (64% vs 40%, p = 0.03), and were more likely to have lung emphysema (55% vs 38%, p = 0.004). Only a pulmonary diagnosis of lung emphysema remained an independent predictor for postoperative pain in a logistic regression model. Average (+/- SD) score of the BDI was 9.6 +/- 7.8 and 5.8 +/- 5.8 (p = 0.005) for patients with and without pain, respectively. Patients with and without pain did not significantly differ in terms of anxiety. Pain-free patients had a significantly higher physical component score than patients with pain in the SF-36v2 (mean, 48.7 +/- 8.6 vs 38.6 +/- 9.8, p < 0.0001, respectively), while the mental component scores were not statistically different between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Lung transplant recipients have a high prevalence of pain. Patients with lung emphysema as their preoperative diagnosis are more likely to have pain. The occurrence of pain is associated with a decreased QOL in lung transplant recipients.

Published 13 November 2006 in Chest, 130(5): 1535-40.
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