Quality of life on admission to the intensive care: can we query the relatives?
OBJECTIVE
To study whether the Short Form-36 questionnaire can be used to assess the patient's quality of life on admission to the ICU by use of proxies in both scheduled and emergency admissions.


METHODS
Prospective study involving direct interviews of patients and relatives before or during ICU stay in a 10-bed mixed intensive care unit in a 654-bed university affiliated hospital.


METHODS
Patients before major elective surgery ( n=55) or following emergency admissions ( n=57).


RESULTS
Patients and proxies completed a health questionnaire in the first 72 h following emergency admission or the day before a scheduled admission to the ICU. Internal consistency was evaluated by measurement of Cronbach's alpha. All dimensions of the SF-36 had adequate internal consistency. On all eight dimensions a significant correlation was found between the patient and their proxy. In general, proxies underestimated the patient's quality of life although differences were small (less than 5%). On most items a good to very good agreement was found (alpha>0.6). Quality of life assessment was not affected by the admission status of the patient (acute or elective admission and surgical or medical diagnosis).


CONCLUSIONS
The SF-36 questionnaire completed by a proxy can reliable assesses the quality of life of the critically ill patient on admission to the ICU. Proxies underestimated the patient's quality of life, although the differences were small.
Gelre-Lukas Hospital Apeldoorn, Department of Intensive Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Jose
J
Hofhuis
Julius Centre for General Practice and Patient Oriented Research, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|GGD Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Jeannine L A
JLA
Hautvast
Julius Centre for General Practice and Patient Oriented Research, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Augustinus J P
AJP
Schrijvers
Gelre-Lukas Hospital Apeldoorn, Department of Intensive Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. j.bakker@isala.nl.|Department of Intensive Care, Isala Hospitals Weezenlanden, PO Box 10500, 8000 GM, Zwolle, The Netherlands. j.bakker@isala.nl.
Jan
J
Bakker
D018806:APACHE; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015982:Bias; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000523:psychology*; D004630:Emergencies; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000379:methods; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010343:Patient Admission; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019727:Proxy / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*