A systematic review of the factors significantly influencing the quality of life of living liver donors.
Yuexian Shi, Haiming Zhang, Zhijun Zhu
PMID 38020831WHAT IT FOUND
Living liver donors' quality of life was linked to female sex, older age, low education, recent donation, recipient death, complications, longer hospital stay, and donor concerns.
Nurses can screen these to target follow-up.
Key findings
01The review grouped factors influencing living liver donors' quality of life into sociodemographic, donation-related, health-related, and psychosocial characteristics.
02Recent donation, especially within six months post-donation, was reported as a negative predictor of physical quality of life.
03Recipient death was associated with poor physical function, continuing physical symptoms, and impaired psychological status in donors.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review included 16 studies, and many had small samples, so the evidence was limited. Most studies were cross-sectional, so the factors are associations, not causes. Most studies used the SF-36, a general quality-of-life measure not designed for living liver donors; only one included study used a donor-specific tool. Three included studies were rated poor quality and two fair. The review could not combine results statistically because the included studies did not provide enough data for meta-analysis. Social function received little attention, and only two studies focused on factors influencing it. Complication rates varied widely across studies, from 4.5% to 41.1%.
Declared interests
National Natural Science Foundation of China funded the work, and the funder had no role in design, implementation, or analysis. The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these factors as causes or as proof that screening and nurse-led interventions improve donor quality of life. Most included studies were cross-sectional, and the review did not test any intervention.