Factors Influencing Stress Disorders in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Patients After Liver Transplantation: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND Evidence on psychological factors associated with post-transplant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in liver transplantation (LT) patients is limited. Identifying the psychological factors associated with post-transplant PTSD would help to understand the symptoms of PTSD and take preventive measures. The aim of this study was to investigate factors influencing stress disorders in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients 1 year after LT. MATERIAL AND METHODS We assessed data from 184 LT patients at our hospital between January 2020 and December 2022. According to the PCL-C score, the patients were divided into the PTSD group (score ≤37) and the non-PTSD group (score >37). The demographic data, clinical data, the pain visual analogue scale (VAS), the anxiety and depression scale (HADS), and the psychological resilience scale (CD-RISC score) were compared between the 2 groups. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between PCL-C and VAS, HADS, and CD-RISC, and logistic regression was used to analyze the factors influencing PTSD. SPSS 23.0 software was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS The average age of the 184 participants was 53.17 years (±3.47) and 66.85% of the subjects were male. The prevalence rate of post-transplant PTSD was 22.83% and the total score on the PCL-C scale was 32.47±7.81. Pearson correlation analysis showed that PCL-C score was positively correlated with VAS (r=0.312, P=0.012) and HADS (r=0.412, P<0.001), and negatively correlated with CD-RISC (r=-0.468, P<0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that the symptom of post-transplant PTSD was significantly associated with higher VAS (OR=1.058, P=0.007) and HADS (OR=1.885, P<0.001) scores and lower CD-RISC (OR=2.213, P<0.001) score, which indicated that higher VAS and HAD scores were risk factors that contributed to PTSD and lower CD-RISC was a protective factor against PTSD. CONCLUSIONS We found that pain, anxiety, depression, and resilience were associated with symptoms of PTSD in LT patients in the ICU. Nursing staff should seek to relieve their patients' pain and assure provision of targeted health education and personalized psychological counseling to reduce the risk of PTSD after LT.