Immunosuppressant side effect profile does not differ between organ transplant types

Transplantation has enhanced the quality of life of all transplant recipien ts, but concern remains regarding the side effects of immunosuppressant dru gs. In order to respond to these concerns, a survey to ascertain the side e ffect profile of transplant recipients was undertaken to identify the impac t of chronic immunosuppression on quality of life. A nationwide survey of s olid organ transplant recipients was carried out using a newly developed im munosuppressant side effect survey. Kidney, kidney-pancreas, liver and hear t recipients responded to the survey (n = 505) and reflect the national dis tribution based on the UNOS data for organ type, recipient race and gender. The survey had four subscales: emotional burden, life/role responsibilitie s, mobility and GI distress. A fifth subscale included miscellaneous side e ffects that are more prevalent during the first 2 years post-transplant. Fr equency and severity of each side effect were coded on a scale of 0-4 from `no problem' to `always' a problem. The entire range of possible scores (0- 160) was reported, reflecting adequate variability in the responses. The sa mple consisted of 51% males, 77% Caucasians, 15% African Americans, with th e remaining 8% other races. There were 225 (44.5%) kidney, 147 (29.1%) live r, 101 (20% heart and 32 (6.4%) pancreas included. Age ranged from 18-71 ye ars with time since transplant 1-21 years. Overall frequency (12.1 +/- 6.08 ), severity (10.5 +/- 6.96) and weighted scores (25.4 +/- 19.9) were low su ggesting that, as a whole, immunosuppressant side effects, while present, w ere not severe or troublesome for most patients. Side effect profiles appea red similar among organ types. Differences were detected in the GI distress subscale with the heart recipients reporting significantly less GI distres s than liver recipients (13.8 vs. 19.2; P < 0.05). Side effect impact on mo bility tended to increase between time eras; however, no statistical signif icance was detected. Side effects are a concern among health-care professio nals; however, based on the results of this study, immunosuppressant-relate d side effects are not detrimental to quality of life and show no differenc es between types of organ transplanted.