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. 2025 Sep 22:502309.
doi: 10.1016/j.medine.2025.502309. Online ahead of print.

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

Liliana Cristina da Silva Ferreira Fontes  1 , Bárbara Peleteiro  2 , Paulo Jorge Ribeiro Costa  3 , Joana Carolina João Fernandes  4 , Tatiana Santos Vieira  3 , António José Falcão Braga  3 , Sónia Patrícia Vilar Martins  5 , Ana Rita Leal Ferreira  6 , Isabel Maria Metelo Coimbra  3 , Lia Paula Nogueira Sousa Fernandes  6 , José Artur Osório de Carvalho Paiva  7
Affiliations

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

Liliana Cristina da Silva Ferreira Fontes et al. Med Intensiva (Engl Ed). .

Abstract

Objective: 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.

Design: Post-hoc analysis of prospectively collected data.

Setting: Intensive Care Department of Unidade Local de Saúde São João between 1st October 2020 and 31st December 2021.

Participants: 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.

Intervention: Telephone consultation 16 months after discharge home, assessing QoL and disability.

Main variables of interest: QoL five dimensions, EuroQol Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS) and Health and disability 6 domains.

Results: 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).

Conclusions: 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.

Keywords: COVID-19; Calidad de vida; Critical care; Cuidados críticos; Disability; Discapacidad; Follow-up; Quality of life; Seguimiento.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors have nothing to declare.

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