Original Articles
Status Quo of and Factors Associated with Self-Management Behavior in Elderly Living-Donor Liver Transplant Recipients
2019 Volume 39 Pages 147-156
Details
2019 Volume 39 Pages 147-156
Objective: This study aims to examine the current state of self-management behavior in elderly living donor-liver transplant recipients (LRs) and determine the factors correlated with such behavior.
Methods: We requested the transplant coordinators and doctors from 18 of the 67 transplant hospitals identified by Japanese Liver Transplantation Society for the enrollment of LRs. A total of 167 Japanese LRs aged ≥65 years were enrolled, who answered anonymous self-administered questionnaires at seven hospitals.
Results: We found that 91.6% LRs were administered with immunosuppressant medication, although 49.7% could not adequately comprehend the corresponding side effects. Female LRs gradually ignored the daily-life observation of self-management behavior following transplantation. Furthermore, females who experienced frailty exhibited lower “health-promotion scores.”
Conclusions: Although LRs could not adequately comprehend the side effects of their medications, overall, they performed self-management behavior. In female LRs, the factor that correlated with “daily-observation scores” was “the periods following transplantation” and the factor that correlated with “health-promotion scores” was frailty.
