ANALYSIS OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN POLYTRAUMATIZED PATIENTS 2 YEARS AFTER-DISCHARGE FROM AN INTENSIVE-CARE UNIT

Objective: Analysis of quality of life of polytraumatized critical car e patients. Design: Prospective study. Material and Methods: Patients admitted in a 2-year period in a traumatologic intensive care unit (IC U) were evaluated, A quality of life questionnaire was completed on ad mission (N = 351), 1 year and 2 Sears after discharge from the ICU. Th e three questionnaires evaluated patients' ability to function and com municate over the previous 2 months, A quality of life score of 0 corr esponded to no limitations, Quality of life was also evaluated by the Glasgow Outcome Scale, Information was collected on the severity of il lness and the diagnosis prompting ICU admission. Results: The mean qua lity of life score of survivors worsened from 0.46 +/- 0.11 points on ICU admission to 6.68 +/- 0.41 1 year after discharge, and then improv ed to 4.86 +/- 0.38 2 years after discharge, although the quality of l ife score continued to be worse than on admission (p < 0.001), On admi ssion, 93.2% of patients had normal quality of life (0 points), after 1 year 36.5% were normal, and after 2 years 51.6% were normal, Three p atients (0.9%) remained in vegetative state, On admission, 96.6% were working, while after 2 years, only 57.5% had returned to employment, a lthough the high levels of unemployment in our country during this stu dy may have been a particular factor in this result, All age groups ex cept pediatric patients showed a worsened quality of life after 2 year s, and patients over 60 years had worst scores on admission and after 1 and 2 Sears, Patients with least severity by Acute Physiology and Ch ronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score (<10 points) had a better qu ality of life score after 1 and 2 years, Severity by Injury Severity S core showed patients with >25 points having the greatest deterioration in quality of life. A multivariate study showed that quality of life after 2 years is influenced by age, severity of injury, and previous q uality of life. Conclusions: Polytraumatized patients admitted into IC U shelved a worsening of their quality of life 1 and 2 years after ICU discharge, with an improvement between 1 and 2 years, Quality of life after 2 years is influenced by age, severity of illness, and previous quality of life.