Psychiatric Consultation after Kidney Transplantation: A 10-Year Single-Center Study Including Outpatients in Japan

Background: The aim of this study was to elucidate the clinical characteristics and frequency of psychiatric consultation in a routine clinical setting after kidney transplantation. Methods: Subjects were 1,139 consecutive recipients who received kidney transplantation at our hospital between January 1997 and September 2006. The hospital patient database was searched to determine whether these recipients received psychiatric consultation after their transplantation during this period. Results: Among 1,139 recipients, 118 (10%) received psychiatric consultation after their transplantation. There were significantly more women among these recipients ( p = 0.036). Many of the recipients had received psychiatric consultation before transplantation ( p < 0.0001) and had received dialysis for a long time ( p = 0.018). There were three main psychiatric diagnoses according to ICD-10 diagnostic criteria in these 118 recipients: 42 (36%) had neurotic, stress-related, and somatoform disorders (F4); 35 (30%) had organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders (F0); and 27 (23%) had mood (affective) disorders (F3). The median length of time between kidney transplantation and initial psychiatric consultation was 57 days (interquartile range: 10–650 days). The lengths were 7 days (6–17 days) for F0, 75 days (18–650 days) for F4, 243 days (35–1,004 days) for F3, and 253 days (10–1,393 days) for other diagnostic groups. Significant differences were observed among these four groups (Jonckheere-Terpstra test, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Our results show that appropriate psychiatric intervention is necessary not only in early stages after kidney transplantation but also over the long term.