Quality of Life and 1-Year Survival in Patients With Early Septic Shock: Long-Term Follow-Up of the Australasian Resuscitation in Sepsis Evaluation Trial.

OBJECTIVES

To examine long-term survival and quality of life of patients with early septic shock.

DESIGN

Prospective, randomized, parallel-group trial.

SETTING

Fifty-one hospitals in Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Hong Kong, and the Republic of Ireland.

PATIENTS

One-thousand five-hundred ninety-one patients who presented to the emergency department with early septic shock between October 2008 and April 2014, and were enrolled in the Australasian Resuscitation in Sepsis Evaluation trial.

INTERVENTIONS

Early goal-directed therapy versus usual care.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Long-term survival was measured up to 12 months postrandomization. Health-related quality of life was measured using the EuroQoL-5D-3L, Short Form 36 and Assessment of Quality of Life 4D at baseline, and at 6 and 12 months following randomization. Mortality data were available for 1,548 patients (97.3%) and 1,515 patients (95.2%) at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Health-related quality of life data were available for 85.1% of survivors at 12 months. There were no significant differences in mortality between groups at either 6 months (early goal-directed therapy 21.8% vs usual care 22.6%; p = 0.70) or 12 months (early goal-directed therapy 26.4% vs usual care 27.9%; p = 0.50). There were no group differences in health-related quality of life at either 6 or 12 months (EuroQoL-5D-3L utility scores at 12 mo early goal-directed therapy 0.65 ± 0.33 vs usual care 0.64 ± 0.34; p = 0.50), with the health-related quality of life of both groups being significantly lower than population norms.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients presenting to the emergency department with early septic shock, early goal-directed therapy compared with usual care did not reduce mortality nor improve health-related quality of life at either 6 or 12 months.