Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: Quality of Life One Year after ICU Discharge

Abstract

Persistent COVID represents a new challenge as it negatively affects the quality of life of patients. The aim is to identify the factors that affect the quality of life of the patient diagnosed with COVID-19 one year after ICU discharge. Observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional study carried out in the Resuscitation Unit of the General University Hospital Consortium of Valencia with 417 patients admitted in the first year of the pandemic. Deceased patients and those with cognitive dysfunction were excluded. Data were collected through a self-administered online questionnaire that included the Short Form of the Health Survey (SF-36) to assess quality of life. Mann-Whitney’s U, Kruskal-Wallis, Chi-square tests and multiple linear regression analyses were applied, accepting a level of statistical significance at p≤0.05. We worked with a sample of (n=122). For an interval confidence of 95%, all dimensions of quality of life were negatively related to sequelae, depression, and anxiety. Significant results were found for: “Physical functioning” [R2=.418 (F=29.956 (p<.001)]; for “Emotional Well-being” [R2=.511 (F=43.161 (p<.001)]; in the case of “Vitality” [R2=.559 (F=52.127 (p<.001)] and for “General Health” [R2=.569 (F=54.251 (p<.001)]. The dimension “Emotional role” was also influenced by marital status [R2=.427 (F=23.510 (p<.001)]. The models indicate that the presence of sequelae and high levels of anxiety and depression negatively affect all dimensions of quality of life one year after discharge from the ICU.