Impact of Liver Donation on Quality of Life and Physical and Psychological Distress

Our objectives were to assess the characteristics of donors for living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) and to examine the impact of donation on LDLT donor quality of life (QOL) regarding physical and psychological distress. Data were collected from a mailed survey or an interview using a cross-sectional prospective study design. We used the abbreviated version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF), Physical Symptom Disturbance Scale, and Psychological Distress Scale. LDLT donors were recruited from a teaching hospital located in a metropolitan area of northern Taiwan. The 35 LDLT donors have a mean age 34.0 ± 8.6 years and were recruited at a median of 25.9 months after donation (range, 0.6–92 months). The average scores in the four domains of the WHOQOL-BREF scale ranged from 13.5 to 14.9. LDLT Donors reported higher QOL scores in social and environment domains but lower scores in physical and psychological domains than healthy adults. Numbers of physical symptoms experienced by each donor ranged from one ( n = 4) to 27 ( n = 2). Feeling throbbing, itching or numbness around the wound was the most common physical symptom disturbance reported by donors ( n = 26, 74%). Approximately 40% of the donors reported having one to three metrics of psychological distresses. “Easily feel distress and angry” was the most common psychological distress reported by 57% ( n = 20) of donors. This study indicated that liver donation had a mild negative impact on donors physical and psychological facets of QOL. These results may assist professionals to provide appropriate clinical management.