Pediatric quality of life after critical illness

The goal of this study was to evaluate the postdischarge quality of life in children after critical illness treated in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). This study was conducted in Children's Clinical University Hospital in Riga, Latvia from January to July 2019 and was designed as an observational study. Inclusion criteria were admission to PICU from January 1st to December 31 2018, children who spent at least 48 hours in PICU, received mechanical ventilation and were discharged from PICU alive. Non-residents and patients that were transferred from neonatal ICU were excluded. Presence of a life limiting condition was assessed. Individual phone interviews with patients' parents were conducted to assess Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) after PICU discharge. Patients were included in age groups specified in the score as follows, one to 12 months, two to four, five to seven, eight to twelve, 13 to 18 years. Participants were offered the option to withdraw from the study at any point. One-hundred twenty-five patients met inclusion criteria, male: female (n=55:70). Thirty patients were excluded (not reachable [14], death after PICU discharge [5], declined to participate [1], other reasons [10]) and 85 patient's parents were interviewed. Interviews were conducted after a median of 301 (IQR 227-377) days after PICU discharge. Median length of stay was 6 days (IQR 4-8). Forty percent had a life limiting condition. Mean Paediatric Index of Mortality was 0.03 SD 0.05. PedsQL shows data variety in four functioning categories in the study group. IQRtotal (62.3-87.0), IQRphysical (53.6-96.9), IQRemotional (57.3-82.3), IQRsocial (59.2-95.0), IQRschool (50.0-88.8). Impairment of physical, emotional, social or school functioning often persists after PICU discharge. The most variability in collected data is seen in physical functioning. Further studies are required to assess the post-intensive care syndrome and increase quality of life after discharge from the PICU.