Long-term health related quality of life following intensive care during treatment for haematological malignancies.
OBJECTIVE
Long-term health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was determined for patients admitted to the haematology ward who needed intensive care treatment (H-IC+) and compared with those who did not (H-IC-) as well as with that for patients admitted to the general ICU (nH-IC+).


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was carried out median 18 months after admission by employing the short form-36, checklist for individual strength, cognitive failure questionnaire and hospital anxiety and depression scale.


RESULTS
27 (79%) of the 34 H-IC+ patients approached, and 93 (85%) of the 109 H-IC- patients approached replied. Data were adjusted for relevant covariates and matched with those of 149 patients in the general ICU. Apart from the lower role-physical functioning score for H-IC+ (P = 0.04) no other differences were found between H-IC+ and H-IC-. Groups H-IC+ and nH-IC+ evaluated their HRQoL on SF-36 similarly, except for the lower aggregated physical component summary (PCS) for H-IC+ (P<0.0001). After adjusting for PCS, no significant differences in CIS, CFQ and HADS were observed between the groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Eighteen months after admission, patients treated for haematological malignancies reported similar HRQoL, whether or not they had received intensive care treatment, but reported a lower PCS than those of patients in the general ICU. Hence, there is no reason to assume that admission to the ICU has a negative impact on long-term HRQoL, so this should not affect the decision whether or not to transfer patients with haematological malignancies to the ICU.
Department of Haematology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Maarten
M
van Vliet
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Mark
M
van den Boogaard
Department of Haematology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
J Peter
JP
Donnelly
Department of Medical Psychology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands ; Institute of Psychology; Health, Medical and Neuropsychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Andrea W M
AW
Evers
Department of Haematology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Nicole M A
NM
Blijlevens
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Peter
P
Pickkers
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003422:Critical Care; D005260:Female; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors