Assessing health-related quality of life in patients with interstitial lung diseases with and without lung transplantation using the GR-Scale

Stoltefuß, Sina; Leuschner, Gabriela; Veit, Tobias; Götschke, Jeremias; Milger, Katrin; Kauke, Teresa; Lenoir, Alexandra; Kneidinger, Nikolaus; Behr, Jürgen (2026): Assessing health-related quality of life in patients with interstitial lung diseases with and without lung transplantation using the GR-Scale. BMC Pulmonary Medicine, 26: 26. ISSN 1471-2466

Abstract

Introduction

Lung transplantation (LTx) aims to improve the health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We applied the GR-Scale for the first time in patients after LTx due to interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), compared it longitudinally with non-transplanted patients, and evaluated the impact of chronic allograft dysfunction (CLAD) on the HRQoL.

Methods

In this prospective longitudinal cohort pilot study, we compared HRQoL by utilizing the GR-Scale between non-transplanted patients (n = 32) and transplanted patients (n = 26). In a second step, we compared HRQoL between transplanted patients with (n = 11) and without CLAD (n = 42). A follow-up assessment was conducted after 3 to 6 months.

Results

Statistically significant differences in HRQoL were observed between patients after LTx and non-transplanted patients, with worse HRQoL in non-transplanted patients, at both baseline (p < 0.001) and follow up (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the GR-Scale found statistically significant worse HRQoL in transplanted patients with CLAD compared to those without, both at baseline (p = 0.014) and follow-up (p = 0.011). Additionally, significant differences were found in the individual items of the GR-Scale, with physical symptoms showing a more pronounced difference than psychological symptoms in both analyses. No significant differences were observed between the groups regarding age and sex.

Conclusion

Our pilot study suggests that the GR-Scale is an easy-to-use and valuable tool to assess HRQoL in lung transplant recipients providing important additional information for clinical evaluation of this patient population, also longitudinally.

• Doc-Type: Article (LMU Hospital)
• Organisational unit (Faculties): 07 Medicine > Medical Center of the University of Munich > Medical Clinic and Outpatient Clinic V (Pneumology)
• DFG subject classification of scientific disciplines: Life sciences
• DFG: Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - 491502892