Weight change in cardiac transplant patients.

: The perception exists that excessive weight gain commonly occurs after cardiac transplantation. To examine this perception, 91 transplant patients from one to eight years post-transplant responded to a questionnaire eliciting data on premorbid and post-transplant weights, exercise frequency, and fat intake. Only 37% of subjects weighed more post-transplant than premorbidly. More than half of the subjects were over their ideal weights premorbidly and post-transplant. On t-test there was no significant difference (p less than .05) between weight gainers and weight losers in exercise frequency (t = .63; p = .53), or fat intake (t = -.80; p = .43). Findings of the study dispute the perception of excessive weight gain post-transplantation. This perception may be due to the comparison of cachectic pre-transplant weight with well weight post-transplant. Since more than half of the subjects were over their ideal weight post-transplantation, teaching regarding weight control remains important. Future research on effective methods of weight control is needed.