Quality of life and disability 16 months after critical care illness: Comparison between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 survivors.

Publication date: Sep 22, 2025

Describe and compare the Quality of Life (QoL) and disability of critical care survivors with COVID-19 and NON-COVID-19 critical illness, admitted during and after the pandemic period. We hypothesize that both COVID-19 disease and the pandemic context have a significant impact on long-term outcomes of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) survivors. Post-hoc analysis of prospectively collected data. Intensive Care Department of Unidade Local de SacFAde ScE3o JocE3o between 1st October 2020 and 31st December 2021. Three groups of adult critical care survivors; Group 1: critical COVID-19 patients; Group 2: critical patients with other diagnosis, admitted in the pandemic period; Group 3: critical patients admitted in the post-pandemic period due to non-COVID-19 causes. Telephone consultation 16 months after discharge home, assessing QoL and disability. QoL five dimensions, EuroQol Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS) and Health and disability 6 domains. Of the 185 survivors, Group 1 reported less problems in”Self-care” (OR = 0. 15, 95%CI: 0. 04-0. 55), “Usual activities” (OR = 0. 20, 95%CI: 0. 08-0. 0.52), and “Anxiety/Depression” (OR = 0. 36, 95%CI: 0. 14-0. 97) dimensions. Health and disability domains assessment showed Group 1 had less difficulties in “Cognition” (OR = 0. 37, 95%CI: 0. 15-0. 91), “Mobility” (OR = 0. 25, 95%CI: 0. 09-0. 68), “Self-care” (OR = 0. 15, 95%CI: 0. 05-0. 40) and “Life activities” (OR = 0. 32, 95%CI: 0. 13-0. 76). Sixteen months after discharge home, survivors of non-COVID-19 admitted during the pandemic period present worse QoL and functional status than COVID-19 survivors admitted during the same period and greater post-hospital discharge healthcare needs.

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