RESUMO
Objetive: to evaluate survival and quality of life in a group of patients admitted into a general intensive care unit (ICU) two years before, identifying factors, prognosis and differences by age groups. Design: prospective observational study. Location: general intensive care unit at a university hospital. Patients: 45 patients admitted between june and july 1999 and evaluated until august 2001. Measurements: information referring to age, sex, initial diagnosis, assessment according to the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II, life quality survey upon admittance and telephone survey after two years, intrahospital mortality and postdischarge. Results: average age: 60. Older than 65:19 (42 percent). Males: 22 (49 percent). Intrahospital mortality: 12 (26 percent), mortality at 2 years: 21 (47 percent). Total mortality under age 65 versus over 65:10 to 9 (p0,7). Total mortality over age 80:100 percent (p 0,04). APACHE II average upon admittance: 14. APACHE II average of deceased at the hospital versus non deceased: 18 and 12 (p 0.03). APACHE II average of deceased during the study versus non deceased: 17 and 11 (p 0.002). Quality of life score upon admittance between those over and under 65:5.6 and 1.9 (p 0.002), daily life activities list between deceased and non deceased: 3,7 and 1.6 (p 0,023), 62 percent of the survivors (15 out of 24) maintained of improved their quality of life after two years of follow-up. Conclusions: A high mortality rate appeared throughout the two year follow-up. This was non related to age except for those patients over age 80. Those patients over age 65 had a worse quality of life upon admittance, while an indicator of greater mortality was a deterioration of day to day activities. Most of those that survived the two-year period were able to improve or maintain the quality of life level presented before admittance independently of the age group. APACHE II confirmed itself as a predictor of mortality, both intra and extrahospital