Health Expectations and Quality of Life After Acute Respiratory Failure: A Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Patients often have high expectations for recovery after critical illness, but the impact of these expectations on subsequent quality of life (QoL) after serious illnesses has not been evaluated empirically. Among adult survivors of acute respiratory failure (ARF), are met vsunmet expectations for health associated with self-reported QoL 6months after discharge? This was a prospective longitudinal cohort study enrolling consecutive adult patients with ARF managed in ICUs at five academic medical centers. At hospital discharge, we evaluated participants' expected health 6months in the future via a visual analog scale (VAS; range, 0-100), with higher scores representing better expected health. At 6-month follow-up, perceived health was assessed using the EQ-5D VAS, and QoL was assessed using the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) instrument. Participants' health expectations were categorized as having been met when perceived health at 6months was no more than eight points lower than their expectation at study enrollment. The primary analysis compared WHOQOL-BREF domain scores (range, 0-100) at 6months after discharge in patients with met vsunmet health expectations using the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test. Secondary analysis modeled WHOQOL-BREF domain scores using multivariate regression, and sensitivity analyses assessed QoL using EQ-5D-5L index values. In the primary analysis, QoL was significantly better among participants with met vsunmet health expectations across all domains of the WHOQOL-BREF: physical health (estimated difference in scores: median, 19 [interquartile range (IQR), 12-15]; P< .001), psychological health (median, 12 [IQR, 6-18]; P< .001), social relationships (median, 6 [IQR, 0-13]; P= .02), and environmental health (median, 12 [IQR, 6-13]; P< .001). In multivariate regression, the difference between expected and perceived health remained associated significantly with the physical health domain score. Fulfillment of health expectations is associated with better QoL after ARF, suggesting a mechanism underpinning successful ICU recovery programs that incorporate normalization and expectation management.