Neurodevelopmental disabilities and quality of life after intensive care treatment.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the quality of life after Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) treatment and compare the differences between quality of life in children who suffer chronic health conditions, and those who do not, post discharge from PICU.


METHODS
Quality of life was assessed using the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children (RAHC) Measure of Function which incorporates measures of domains that delineate severity or impact of disease symptoms, physical disability, mobility, emotional distress, behavior, deviation from normal growth and development, impairment in social rules, and performance at school and in leisure activities.


RESULTS
Families of 371 children were contacted for RAHC Measure of Function scoring. The results showed that the majority of children with no chronic condition (88.8%), as well as those with a chronic condition other than neurodevelopmental disability (81.6%) had minimal ongoing health problems and good quality of life. Only 21.4% of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities fell into this category, 39.3% had poor quality of life and 39.3% had fair quality of life.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that the majority of patients discharged from the PICU go on to have a good quality of life. The quality of life of patients with other chronic condition did not differ significantly from children who did not suffer from a chronic condition, with the majority of both groups having minimal residual health problems. Conversely, children with neurodevelopmental disabilities were found to have a higher level of health problems and only a fair quality of life compared with the other two groups.
Mestrovic
Julije
J
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Split University Hospital, 21000 Croatia. julije.mestrovic@st.t-com.hr
Kardum
Goran
G
Sustic
Alan
A
Polic
Branka
B
Mestrovic
Marija
M
Markic
Josko
J
Zanchi
Jaksa
J
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life