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Changes in Health Related Quality of Life, Symptom Experience and Functional Status in ICU Survivors

Thursday, 23 July 2015: 3:50 PM

Youn-Jung Son, PhD
Department of Nursing, Soonchunhyang University, Cheonan, South Korea
Hye Yon Yu, RN
Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Ajou University, Cheonan, South Korea
Ji Hun Ahn, PhD, MD
Department of Cardiology, Soonchunhyang University Gumi Hospital, Gumi, South Korea
Youngrye Park, PhD, RN
Department of Nursing, Kunsan National University, Kunsan, South Korea

Purpose: The purposes of this longitudinal follow-up study were to describe change in symptom experiences, functional status and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and to identify the role of symptom experiences and functional status on HRQoL of Intensive care units (ICU) survivors after discharge from adult ICU.

Methods: Patients who admitted in ICU for treatment their medical-surgical problems for a period of greater than 24 hours were included. Patients surviving to ICU discharge were approached for written consent to participate in this study. Total 213 patients during the study and of these 158 survived to 6 months following ICU discharge. Demographics, psychological factors (anxiety, depression) and situational factors (social support) were surveyed. Symptom experiences, functional status using the K-MBI (The Korean Version of Modified Barthel Index) and HRQoL with EQ-5D (Euroqol-5 Dimensions) were assessed at discharge, 1, 3 and 6 months after discharge from ICU.

Results:

As results, symptom experiences, functional status and HRQoL respectively improved predominantly within the first 1 month after ICU discharge. In hierarchical linear regression, this study showed that ICU survivors after ICU discharge, demonstrated a statistically significant association between symptom experiences, functional status and HRQoL at 1,3,6 months after ICU discharge adjusted for socio-demographic, disease-related, physical and psychological variables. Symptom experience and functional status explained respectively about 31%, 43%, 33% of total variance in HRQoL at 1,3, 6 months after ICU discharge.

Conclusion:

The  symptom experience, functional status, and HRQoL of ICU survivors showed steady improvement, and the symptom experience and functional status continually acted as main influencing factors of HRQoL.This information may guide clinicians in their discussions with patients, families, and other providers as they decide on what treatments and interventions to pursue, especially within a month after ICU discharge.

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