Mental health, COVID-19 burden and quality of life of kidney transplant recipients two years after the COVID-19 pandemic

Concetta De Pasquale; Maria Luisa Pistorio; Massimiliano Veroux; Noemi Barbagallo; Provvidenza Marisa Cottone; Burcin Ekser; Giuseppina Lorenzano; Alessia Giaquinta; Pierfrancesco Veroux

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1338934

Mental health, COVID-19 burden and quality of life of kidney transplant recipients two years after the COVID-19 pandemic

Front Psychiatry. 2024 May 1:15:1338934. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1338934. eCollection 2024.

Affiliations

¹ Vascular Surgery and Organ Transplant Unit, Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
² Vascular Surgery and Organ Transplant Unit, Department of General Surgery and Medical-Surgical Specialties, University Hospital of Catania, Catania, Italy.
³ Organ Transplant Unit, Department of Surgical and Medical Sciences and Advanced Technologies, University Hospital of Catania, Catania, Italy.
⁴ Regional Transplant Center, Department of Advanced Diagnostics and Services, Civico and Di Cristina Hospital, Palermo, Italy.
⁵ Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Few studies have evaluated the psychological distress of COVID-19 in kidney transplantation and the psychological impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on kidney transplant recipients is not yet well understood. The present study aimed to investigate the change in symptom burden and health-related quality of life in the two years after initial assessment, by outlining the change over time of symptoms at 12 and 24 months of follow-up.

Methods: This is a follow-up study. We performed a study published in 2021 (phase 1 of COVID-19); of the 89 kidney transplant recipients evaluated in this study, 60 completed the 12 months follow-up (March 2021 June 2021, phase 2 of COVID-19) and 57 completed the 24 months follow-up (March 2022 June 2022, post COVID-19). The same tools as in previous study were administered: the ad hoc questionnaire on emotional state and psychophysical well-being during COVID-19, the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire (MHQ) to provide a simple and rapid quantification of the psychological and somatic symptoms and the Short Form Health Survey 36 (SF-36) was used to assess health-related quality of life.

Results: Compared to the first and second phase of COVID-19, the mean score of quality of life variables were higher in the post COVID-19 phase; thus the recipients physical health, mental health and their perception of their general health improved. Regarding the psychopathology variables the levels of Anxiety, Depression and Phobia in the Post COVID-19 phase decreased, while the Somatization score was higher. Lastly, burden of COVID-19 scores in the third phase, significantly decreased.

Discussion: Our study highlights a significant association between mental health and the burden of COVID-19 pandemic in kidney transplant recipients. This study showed, a significant worsening, over time, of some specific symptoms, such as somatization and phobias. However, the results showed that depressive symptoms improved during the study period. Long-term monitoring of kidney transplant recipients therefore remains fundamental. These results confirmed the need to provide integrated multidisciplinary services to adequately address the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of the most vulnerable subjects.

Keywords: COVID-19; kidney transplantation; mental health; psychopathology; quality of life.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research has been fully supported by the project PIACERI 2020 (PIAno di inCEntivi per la RIcerca di Ateneo) of the Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania (Italy). Project: Self-care, care of the world. The impact of the environmental crisis on the physical (soma) and moral (psyche) of man.