Variability in general health status post liver transplantation

Transplantation outcomes focus has shifted beyond increasing survival to decreasing the negative effects of liver disease, focusing on outcomes related to physical and social health. These measures have been studied as isolated variables, but they have not been examined as a cluster of recipient characteristics, representing their wellbeing. This paper aims to compare liver transplantation recipient's general health status pre- and 2-years post-liver transplant, and to examine whether age, gender, race, and comorbidities are associated with better health status post-transplant. We used data derived from electronic health records of recipients 18 years or older who underwent liver transplantation between 01/01/2008 and 3/31/2017. We excluded recipients who died within 2 years from transplant or did not have follow-up data. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to build severity scores for health status pre- and 2 years post-transplant. Age, gender, race, and comorbidities were also examined. A /-test and ANCOVA were used to examine differences pre- and post-LT. Results showed that better health status pre-transplant was not statistically significant associated with better health status post-transplant. However, health status post-transplant was less variable than pre-transplant. There was a statistically significant association between female gender and kidney severity with worse health status post-transplant; thus, gender and kidney disease may be associated with liver transplant recipients' wellbeing and play an important role in health status post-transplant.