Survival and quality of life 12 years after ICU. A comparison with the general Norwegian population.
OBJECTIVE
To study the long-term (12 year) survival and quality of life (QOL) in former ICU patients.


METHODS
Two hundred and thirty-six ICU admissions from a total of 219 patients treated in a Norwegian University Hospital in 1987.


METHODS
A retrospective analysis of the ICU stays and a prospective observation of survival using available information from the Norwegian Peoples Registry. QOL was studied in survivors in 2000 using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire. Survival was compared with available statistics for the general Norwegian population (gender- and age-matched), and QOL was compared with published data from a Norwegian reference population.


METHODS
None.


RESULTS
A total of 106 (48.4 %) patients survived the first 12 years after ICU. Of the non-survivors (113) 66.4 % died within the first year. Two years after discharge the further survival of former ICU patients was 0.763 compared to 0.826 in the general population (difference 0.063 with 95 % CI from -0.007 to 0.134). QOL was significantly less than in the reference population in six of the eight scales of SF-36 (average 82.5%).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings indicate that the long-term outcome after ICU is good, with an acceptable QOL and a life expectancy comparable with the general population in survivors 2 years after the ICU stay.
Flaatten
H
H
Dept of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. hkfl@haukeland.no
Kvåle
R
R
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D011788:Quality of Life; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome