%0 Journal Article
%T Symptom Distress Before and After Heart Transplantation - A Longitudinal 5-Year Follow-Up.
%A Dalvindt M
%A Veungen HL
%A Kisch A
%A Nozohoor S
%A Lennerling A
%A Forsberg A
%J Clin Transplant
%V 38
%N 7
%D 2024 Jul
%M 38973775
%F 3.456
%R 10.1111/ctr.15385
%X <B>BACKGROUND: </B>Symptom distress after heart transplantation (HTx) is a significant problem causing uncertainty, low self-efficacy, and psychological distress. Few studies have addressed self-reported symptoms. The aim was to explore self-reported symptom distress from time on the waiting list to 5 years after HTx and its association with self-reported psychological well-being, chronic pain, and fatigue in order to identify possible predictors of psychological or transplant specific well-being.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>This multicenter, longitudinal cohort study includes 48 heart recipients (HTRs), 12 women, and 36 men, with a median age of 57 years followed from pretransplant to 5 years post-transplant. Symptom distress was explored by means of four instruments measuring psychological general wellbeing, transplant specific wellbeing, pain, and fatigue.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>Transplant specific well-being for the whole improved in a stepwise manner during the first 5 years compared to pretransplant. Heart transplant recipients with poor psychological wellbeing were significantly more burdened by symptom distress, in particular sleep problems and fatigue, for up to 5 years after HTx, and their transplant-specific well-being never improved compared to baseline. The prevalence of pain varied from 40% to 60% and explained a significant proportion of the variance in transplant-specific well-being, while psychological general well-being was mainly predicted by overall symptom distress.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>The presence of distressing symptoms explains a significant proportion of poor psychological wellbeing both among HTRs reporting chronic pain and those without pain.