Determinants of Subjective Mental and Functional Health of Critical Illness Survivors: Comparing Pre-ICU and Post-ICU Status.

OBJECTIVES: To compare ICU survivors' subjective mental and functional health before ICU admission and after discharge and to assess determinants of subjective health decline or improvement. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of the multicenter cluster-randomized Enhanced Recovery after Intensive Care trial ( ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT03671447). SETTING: Ten ICU clusters in Germany. PATIENTS: Eight hundred fifty-five patients with 1478 follow-up assessments. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: At two patient follow-ups scheduled 3 and 6 months after ICU discharge, patients rated their subjective mental and functional/physical health on two separate visual analog scales from 0 (worst) to 10 (best) in the previous week and before ICU admission. We compared pre-ICU and post-ICU subjective health and used mixed-effects regression to assess determinants of a health decline or improvement. At the first follow-up, 20% ( n = 165/841) and 30% ( n = 256/849) of patients reported a decline in subjective mental and functional health of at least three points, respectively; 16% ( n = 133/841 and n = 137/849) outlined improvements of mental and functional health. For 65% ( n = 543/841) and 54% ( n = 456/849), mental and functional health did not change three points or more at the first follow-up. Multivariable mixed-effects logistic regressions revealed that the ICU length of stay was a predictor of mental (adjusted odds ratio [OR] per ICU day, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.00-1.09; p = 0.038) and functional health (adjusted OR per ICU day, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01-1.12; p = 0.026) decline. The odds of a mental health decline decreased with age (adjusted OR per year, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.96-0.99; p = 0.003) and the odds of a functional health decline decreased with time after discharge (adjusted OR per month, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.79-0.94; p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of ICU survivors did not experience substantial changes in their subjective health status, but patients with long ICU stays were prone to subjective mental and functional health decline. Hence, post-ICU care in post-ICU clinics could focus on these patients.

Subjective Ratings of Mental and Physical Health Correlate With EQ-5D-5L Index Values in Survivors of Critical Illness: A Construct Validity Study.

OBJECTIVES: Survivors of critical illness commonly show impaired health-related quality of life (HrQoL). We investigated if HrQoL can be approximated by brief, easily applicable items to be used in primary care. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of data from the multicenter, cluster-randomized controlled Enhanced Recovery after Intensive Care trial ( ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT03671447) and construct validity study. SETTING: Ten participating clusters of ICUs in the metropolitan area of Berlin, Germany. PATIENTS: Eight hundred fifty ICU survivors enrolled in a mixed, medical or surgical ICU when they had an expected ICU length of stay of at least 24 hours, were at least 18 years old, and had statutory health insurance coverage. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Patients received follow-ups scheduled 3 and 6 months after ICU discharge. HrQoL was assessed with the EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L), and patients were asked to rate their current mental and physical health state from 0 (worst) to 10 (best). We fitted prediction models for the EQ-5D-5L index value using these two items and additional covariates, applying stepwise regression and adaptive lasso. Subjective mental health (Spearman: 0.59) and subjective physical health (Spearman: 0.68) correlated with EQ-5D-5L index values and were better predictors of EQ-5D-5L index values in the two-item regression (normalized root mean squared error [nRMSE] 0.164; normalized mean absolute error [nMAE] 0.118; R2adj 0.43) than the EQ-5D Visual Analog Scale (nRMSE 0.175; nMAE 0.124; R2adj 0.35). Stepwise regression with additional covariates further increased prediction performance (nRMSE 0.133; nMAE 0.1; R2adj 0.51). CONCLUSIONS: Asking patients to rate their subjective mental and physical health can be an easily applicable tool for a first impression of the HrQoL in primary care settings.