Cross-sectional analysis of health-related quality of life in pediatric liver transplant recipients. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution of health-related quality of life in pediatric liver transplant recipients compared with a normative population. STUDY DESIGN: This cross-sectional, multicenter study was conducted at select centers. Patients between 2 and 18 years of age, surviving liver transplantation by at least 12 months, were eligible. Parent/guardian fluency in English or Spanish was required. Children > or =8 years and parents of all children completed the age-appropriate versions of the PedsQL 4.0 (Mapi Research Institute, Lyon, France). Scores were compared with a sample of healthy children (n = 3911) matched by age group, sex, and race/ethnicity and with a sample of pediatric patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy and/or radiation. RESULTS: Participants included 65% (873/1339) of eligible patients. Mean age was 8.17 +/- 4.43 years, and 55% were female. The total and subscale scores of PedsQL 4.0 were lower than in healthy children (P < .001), with effect sizes for self-report ranging from -0.25 for Emotional Functioning to -0.68 for School Functioning. Patients and their parents reported better physical functioning than patients with cancer but similar social and school functioning. Correlations between parent and self-reports were in the moderate agreement range. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric liver transplant recipients and their parents report lower health-related quality of life than control subjects with some domains equal to children receiving cancer therapy.

published proceedings

  • J Pediatr

author list (cited authors)

  • Alonso, E. M., Limbers, C. A., Neighbors, K., Martz, K., Bucuvalas, J. C., Webb, T., Varni, J. W., & Studies of Pediatric Liver Transplantation (SPLIT) Functional Outcomes Group (FOG).

citation count

  • 101

complete list of authors

  • Alonso, Estella M||Limbers, Christine A||Neighbors, Katie||Martz, Karen||Bucuvalas, John C||Webb, Thomas||Varni, James W

publication date

  • February 2010