Type D personality is associated with impaired health-related quality of life 7 years following heart transplantation.

Objective: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following transplantation is gaining importance as an endpoint, but little is known about the role of normal personality traits as a determinant of HRQoL in this patient group. We investigated whether Type D personality (tendency to experience increased negative emotions paired with the nonexpression of these emotions) was associated with impaired HRQoL in heart transplant recipients.

Methods: Data were collected from all surviving heart transplant recipients >or=21 years of age (n=186) with a mean (S.D.) of 7 (5) years following transplantation. Patients completed the Short-Form Health Survey 36 (SF-36) and the Type D Scale (DS14). Clinical data were obtained from the medical records.

Results: Of the 186 patients, 18% had a Type D personality. Type D patients had significantly worse scores on the Physical Component scale (PCS) (P=.04) and the Mental Component scale (MCS) (P<.001) of the SF-36 and all the SF-36 subdomains (all P<.01) compared with non-Type D patients, except for Bodily Pain. Type D personality remained an independent determinant of impaired PCS [odds ratio (OR), 3.62; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.25-10.45] and MCS (OR, 6.13; 95% CI, 2.23-16.83) and six of the eight subscales of the SF-36, adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics.

Conclusions: Type D personality was associated with more than a three- to six-fold increased risk of impaired HRQoL in heart transplant recipients, showing that the Type D personality construct also has value in heart transplant recipients. The adoption of a personality approach may lead to improved risk stratification in research and clinical practice in this patient group.