title: Health-related quality of life and posttraumatic stress disorder among survivors of an outbreak of Legionnaires disease.
abstract: A follow-up study of 122 survivors of an outbreak of legionnaires disease (LD) in The Netherlands was conducted to determine persistence of symptoms, health-related quality of life (HRQL), and presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Seventeen months after diagnosis of LD, survivors completed a questionnaire assessing symptoms and HRQL and a questionnaire assessing PTSD. The most prevalent new symptoms were fatigue (in 75% of patients), neurologic symptoms (in 66%), and neuromuscular symptoms (in 63%). HRQL was impaired in 7 of the 8 dimensions assessed by the HRQL questionnaire, and 15% of patients experienced PTSD. Symptoms and impaired HRQL persisted for >1.5 years. As a result of the design of this study, it could not be inferred whether Legionella pneumophila infection, severe pneumonia in general, or the outbreak situation was responsible for impaired well-being. However, awareness of this problem by health care providers may improve the aftercare of patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Tropical Medicine, and AIDS, Academic Medical Center, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. K.D.Lettinga@amc.uva.nl
authors.forename: Kamilla D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Lettinga
authors.forename: Annelies
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verbon
authors.forename: Pythia T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Nieuwkerk
authors.forename: Rene E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Jonkers
authors.forename: Berthold P R
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Gersons
authors.forename: Jan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Prins
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Speelman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007877:Legionnaires' Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D011788:Quality of Life; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*