The impact of intensive care in a private hospital on patients aged 80 and over: Health-related quality of life, functional status and burden versus benefit

Background: Greater numbers of persons aged over 80 years are admitted to intensive care units (ICU) compared with 15 years ago. Outcomes other than death such as physical dependence and cognitive impairment and treatment burden are important to older people. Aims: The aims of this study were to determine the long‐term outcomes of functional impairment, health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) and the self‐reported burden of treatment in a sample of patients aged 80 years and above admitted to ICU. Half of the cohort were admitted for elective cardiac surgery, the rest for non‐cardiac surgery and medical conditions. Methods: In this longitudinal cohort study, in a tertiary level ICU, we measured HRQoL using the SF‐36 and functional status using the modified Barthel Index at several time points over a 2‐year follow‐up period. We also assessed treatment burden by asking participants whether they thought the episode of care was worthwhile. Results: A total of 348 patients was recruited into the study. One‐fifth of the cohort had died by the 2‐year follow‐up data collection point. There was an improvement in physical functioning in the cardiac surgery group at 6 months which was not sustained. There was no change in HRQoL at 2 years in either group. The majority valued the episode of care. Conclusion: We demonstrated that HRQoL and previous lifestyle is preserved in the majority following ICU admission, associated with a high level of patient valuation of the episode of care.