Assessment of former ICU patients' quality of life: comparison of different quality-of-life measures.

OBJECTIVE

To compare three different measures to assess quality of life (QOL) after an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) stay: a standardized telephone interview, a satisfaction scale, and the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP).

DESIGN

Prospective study, evaluating QOL 6 months after ICU discharge.

SETTING

Medical ICU of a Swiss tertiary-care university hospital.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Patients admitted to the ICU between July and November 1998 for more than 24 h were included. Six months after ICU discharge overall QOL and health-related QOL were evaluated. Of the 118 patients approached, 85 returned valid questionnaires.

RESULTS

The majority of patients indicated good QOL 6 months after ICU stay on each measure. A correlation for both overall and health-related QOL was found between the SIP and the satisfaction scales, between SIP and the telephone interviews, between the telephone interviews and satisfaction scales. The correlation between rating by scale or telephone interview and SIP in patients with cardiovascular disease differed from patients with other diagnoses.

CONCLUSIONS

For the global assessment of overall or health-related QOL after ICU stay, long questionnaires such as SIP may be replaced by a short, structured telephone interview or, better, by a satisfaction scale. Quantitative measures such as SIP may be needed for comparison of therapeutic interventions or specific functional or psychosocial aspects.