Preoperative expectations for health‐related quality of life after lung transplant

How patients’ health‐related quality of life (HRQL) after lung transplant compares to their preoperative expectations is unclear. As part of a previously published prospective cohort study, we compared 328 subjects’ expectations for their post‐transplant HQRL with and without chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) to their actual HRQL scores after transplant, using the visual analog scale (VAS) and standard gamble (SG). Subjects’ expectations were considered met when the absolute difference between the expected and actual scores (the “expectation error”) was +0.1 units). When subjects developed CLAD stage 3, their HRQL was as they expected (mean expectation error of each disease group except COPD and CF: within ± 0.1 units). Patients’ expectations for their HRQL after transplant are at least met and may be exceeded.