Objective: To study the prevalence of depression in pre-organ transplantation patients at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.

Materials and Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The data were collected from the pre-organ transplantation patients of heart, liver, kidney, and lungs, at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. The demographic and clinical data questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 in Thai version (PHQ-9-T), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 in Thai version (GAD-7-T), the Thai Mental State Exam (TMSE), and the Thai Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-T) were used. The prevalence of depression and other psychiatric problems in pre-organ transplantation patients were assessed. The relationship was then analyzed using chi-square and Pearson’s correlation.

Results: One hundred ten pre-organ transplant patients participated in the present study. The mean age was 50.32±12.2 years old, with 73.6% male participants. Types of organ failure composed of liver (50.9%), heart (31.8%), kidney (16.4%), and lungs (0.9%). The prevalence of depression was 23.6% with mean PHQ-9 score of 5.56. Anxiety, cognitive impairment, alcohol, nicotine or other illicit substance use disorder appeared to be less prevalent in the present study cohort.

Conclusion: One in every five pre-organ transplantation patients were found to have depression. Suicide, anxiety, cognitive impairment, alcohol, and other illicit substance problems were also observed within the present study population but to a lesser extent. Therefore, the systematic pre-transplant psychiatric and psychosocial assessment are strongly recommended in Thai pre-organ transplantation patients.

Keywords: Depression; Psychiatric prevalence; Pre-organ transplantation patients

DOI: doi.org/10.35755/jmedassocthai.2021.07.12483

Received 16 February 2021 | Revised 4 June 2021 | Accepted 4 June 2021