Background: Chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) is the leading cause of death after the first postoperative years of lung transplantation (LTx).
Objective: To assess the number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per patient with severe CLAD.
Methods: The clinical and demographic data of patients who received their lung transplantation between 2010 and 2020 in the Hanover Medical School (Germany) were evaluated.
Results: A total of 1025 lung transplant patients were followed for a median of 51 months (4.25 years); the median age at transplantation was 52.8 (interquartile range (IQR) 19) years. More than a quarter of transplant patients (271/1025 or 26.4%) developed CLAD, mostly (60%) of the bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) phenotype. Of the CLAD patients, 99, or 36.5%, suffered from significant disability, which on average occurred after 2 years (IQR 2.55). The survival of CLAD patients with disability after transplantation was significantly lower compared to that of patients without CLAD (median 4.04 versus 5.41 years). Adjusted to the DALY estimation approach, CLAD patients lost 1.29 life years (YLL) and lived for 0.8 years with their disability (YLD), adding up to 2.09 DALYs (range 1.99-2.72) per patient.
Conclusions: CLAD after lung transplantation is a major public health problem and is associated with substantial disability and costs. Further work is needed to develop therapeutic interventions that reduce its development.
Keywords: bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome; chronic lung allograft dysfunction; disability; disability-adjusted life years; lung transplantation; patient outcome assessment.