The roles of social support and psychological distress in lung transplant candidacy.

Context: Social support appears to be an important component in lung transplantation. However, the relationship between social support, psychological distress, and listing status has not been evaluated in lung transplant candidates.

Objective: To evaluate the relationships between depression, anxiety, and social support in patients with end-stage lung disease being evaluated for transplantation and determine (1) relationships between social support, depression, anxiety, and coping via seeking emotional and instrumental support; (2) whether social support explains a significant proportion of the variance in depression and anxiety; and (3) whether these factors were associated with whether a patient was listed for transplant.

Design: For this observational study, patients completed self-report questionnaires after their pretransplant evaluations. Listing status was subsequently obtained from medical records.

Patients: Participants were patients with end-stage lung disease evaluated for transplantation at a major hospital.

Measures: Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey, COPE Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.

Results: Social support was associated with depression, anxiety, and seeking support (P values < .01). When other factors related to these variables were controlled for, social support explained a significant proportion of the variance in depression (9%), state anxiety (8%), and trait anxiety (7%; all P values <.001). Patients who were listed for transplant reported seeking more emotional and instrumental support than did patients who were not listed (all P values < or = .05). Whether a patient was listed for transplant was not associated with depression, state anxiety, trait anxiety, or availability of social support. Results highlight the important role that coping via seeking support plays in transplant candidacy.