Health-related quality of life of COVID-19 two and 12 months after intensive care unit admission

Purpose To describe health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and dyspnea of COVID-19, 2 and 12 months after an intensive care unit (ICU) stay

Methods

Patients discharged from the ICU between April and June 2020 and subsequently transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation facility were assessed 2 months and 12 months after ICU admission. HRQoL was assessed by the EuroQoL EQ-5D-3L (visual analog scale and time trade-off normalized to the French population algorithm) and dyspnea was assessed by the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea scale

Results

We enrolled 94 patients. Median EQ-5D-3L time trade-off was 0.80 (interquartile range, 0.36–0.91) at 2 months and 0.91 (0.52–1.00) at 12 months ( P  = 0.12). EQ-5D-3L visual analog scale was 70 (60–85) at 2 months and 70 (60–85) at 12 months ( P  = 0.07). The mMRC dyspnea scale was 3 (2–4) at ICU discharge, 1 (0–2), P  < 0.001 at 2 months and 1 (1–2) at 12 months. At 12 months, 68 (76%) patients reported at least one symptom that was not present prior to ICU admission and 27 (61%) of the 44 patients who were previously working had returned to work. On multiple linear regression, factors associated with EQ-5D-3L were body mass index on ICU admission, tracheostomy, male gender and active smoking

Conclusions

Twelve months after ICU admission for COVID-19 and subsequent rehabilitation, a substantial proportion of patients reported alterations of HRQoL, dyspnea and symptoms that were not present prior to admission and a substantial proportion of these patients had not returned to work. Factors associated with a risk of poorer 12-month quality of life, may help to identify at-risk patients.