Quality of life before intensive care unit admission. Nosocomial urinary tract infections and nosocomial pneumonia

We conducted a retrospective study of critically ill ICU- patients. The objective of the study was to analyze the quality of life of critically ill patients before their ICU admission and its relation to nosocomial urinary tract infections, blood stream infections and pneumonia. Method-Patients Data related to the quality of life of each patient were collected in a questionnaire that includes three subscales. Subscale I that refers to the basic physiologic activities, subscale II that refers to the normal daily activities and subscale III that refers to the emotional state. Results Our results showed that pre-IGU quality of life was 6.7±7.64 points, and 29.3% of patients had a normal quality of life with a 0 points score, 30.3% scored between 1-5 points, 11.1% scored 6-10 points, 15.2% scored 11-15 points, and 14.1% scored >15 points. In addition, the normal daily activities score (subscale II) was correlated with nosocomial pneumonia and the emotional state score (subscale III) was correlated with the nosocomial urinary tract infections. Furthermore, there was no correlation between quality of life and blood-stream infections. Conclusions In conclusion, the quality of life of critically ill patients before their ICU admission is not good and a high proportion of patients have a poor pre- ICU quality of life. The preadmission quality of life is correlated with (APACHE II score of admission), nosocomial urinary tract infections and nosocomial pneumonia but is not correlated with blood-stream infections. Further studies are required that would analyze the influence of quality of life of critically ill patients before their ICU admission on the development of nosocomial urinary tract infections and nosocomial pneumonia.

Keywords: Quality of life, ICU