Change in Functional Status During Hospital Admission and Long-Term Health-Related Quality of Life Among Pediatric Septic Shock Survivors.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate whether change in functional status from pre-hospitalization baseline to hospital discharge is associated with long-term health-related quality of life (HRQL) among children surviving septic shock.

DESIGN

Secondary analysis of Life After Pediatric Sepsis Evaluation (LAPSE), a prospective cohort study of children with community-acquired septic shock, enrolled from January 2014 to June 2017.

SETTING

Twelve U.S. academic PICUs.

PATIENTS

Children, 1 month to 18 years, who survived to hospital discharge and had follow-up data for HRQL at 3 and/or 12 months.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Functional Status Scale (FSS) was assessed around enrollment to ascertain baseline status (pre-hospitalization) and at 28 days or hospital discharge. Two measures of HRQL were utilized: children with significant development delay were measured with the Functional Status II-R (FSII-R); typically, developing children were measured with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). Each group was analyzed separately with multivariable regression modeling to determine the association between change in FSS from baseline to day 28 and HRQL at 3 and 12 months from PICU admission. Of the original 389 LAPSE participants, 224 (58%) are included. Among children with developmental delay ( n = 88), worsened FSS was associated with lower FSII-R at 3 months from PICU admission (-2.02; 95% CI, -3.34 to -0.0.71; p = 0.003), but not 12 months. Among developmentally typical children ( n = 136), worsened FSS was associated with lower PedsQL at both 3 and 12 months. Developmentally typical children with a neurologic insult during the PICU stay had the largest decrement in PedsQL at 12 months (-14.04 mo; 95% CI, -22.15 to -5.94 mo; p < 0.001). However, worsened FSS remained associated with poor HRQL-PedsQL at 3 and 12 months, after controlling for neurologic events (both p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Change in FSS during hospitalization for septic shock is associated with long-term reductions in HRQL and could serve as a useful tool for identifying children at risk for this sequela.