Personality Changes Associated with Organ Transplants

Abstract

Personality changes have been reported following organ transplantation. Most commonly, such changes have been described among heart transplant recipients. We set out to examine whether personality changes occur following organ transplantation, and specifically, what types of changes occur among heart transplant recipients compared to other organ recipients. A cross-sectional study was conducted in which 47 participants (23 heart recipients and 24 other organ recipients) completed an online survey. In this study, 89% of all transplant recipients reported personality changes after undergoing transplant surgery, which was similar for heart and other organ recipients. The only personality change that differed between heart and other organ recipients and that achieved statistical significance was a change in physical attributes. Differences in other types of personality changes were observed between these groups but the number of participants in each group was too small to achieve statistical significance. Overall, the similarities between the two groups suggest heart transplant recipients may not be unique in their experience of personality changes following transplantation, but instead such changes may occur following the transplantation of any organ. With the exception of physical attributes, the types of personality changes reported were similar between the two groups. These finding indicate that heart transplant recipients are not unique in their reported experience of personality changes following organ transplantation. Further studies are needed to deepen our understanding of what causes these personality changes.