BACKGROUND: The success of cardiac transplantation involves ensuring the survival of patients with heart disease and allowing them to carry out their daily activities. Heart transplant is the first option of treatment for heart failure and it represents an increase in the survival rate and quality of life of transplant patients. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of life of patients that had a heart transplant by using a standardized scale (Whoqol-Bref). METHODS: A quantitative descriptive exploratory study, conducted with 55 patients that had a heart transplant, in a period ranging between the third and 103rd months, who were monitored at the Transplant and Heart Failure Unit in a benchmark cardiology hospital in the city of Fortaleza, State of Ceará. The data were collected from February 2009 to April 2009, by administering a WHO-standardized questionnaire and by using data contained in medical records. RESULTS: With respect to the physical domain, 62.8% of male patients and 58.3% of female patients are satisfied. In the psychological domain, 65.1% of males are satisfied with the quality of life and, 58.3% of females are satisfied. In terms of social relations, it was observed that 53.5% of males are very satisfied and 100% of females are satisfied. With regard to the environment, 65.1% of male patients and 83.3% of female patients are satisfied. CONCLUSION: The heart transplant had a lot of influence on the quality of life of transplant patients, because the results have proven to be statistically significant after the transplant.
Heart transplantation; quality of life; questionnaires; psychological tests
