The following is a summary of “Changes in quality of life 1 year after intensive care: a multicenter prospective cohort of ICU survivors,” published in the July 2024 issue of Critical Care by Porter et al.

Studies have shown that QoL is becoming a vital outcome as the survival rate of critical illness increases.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the impact of critical illness on QoL before and 1 year after ICU admission across various subgroups of survivors in the ICU.

They analyzed the data from the cohort study using the MONITOR-IC. Patients with critical illness were admitted to ICU at 11 hospitals (July 2016 and June 2021). The primary outcome was the change in QoL, which was measured using the EuroQol five-dimensional (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire. The change was calculated by subtracting the EQ-5D-5L score 1 day before admission from the score 1-year post-ICU. A change in the QoL was defined as a difference in EQ-5D-5L score of ≥0.08, with subgroups based on admission diagnosis.

The results showed 3,913 (50.6%) patients who completed baseline and follow-up questionnaires. Patients 1 year post-ICU who were admitted after a cerebrovascular accident, intracerebral hemorrhage, or trauma showed a decrease in QoL. Subsequently, 11 other subgroups of survivors in the ICU had improved QoL. The most significant increase in QoL was observed in patients with respiratory disease (mean 0.17, SD 0.38), whereas the most critical average decrease was observed in patients with trauma (mean -0.13, SD 0.28). However, in each of the studied 22 subgroups, some survivors reported a significant increase in QoL and others with a substantial decrease in QoL.

They concluded that there was diversity in long-term QoL within subgroups of survivors in the ICU.

Source: ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-024-05036-5