Assessment of the quality of life after discharge from the ICU : a comparison of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on the mental health and well-being of people worldwide. Method: The authors conducted an observational pilot study, considering two patient cohorts: the first sample of 20 non-COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU from September 2019 to September 2020 and the second sample of 26 COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU from October 2020 and April 2021. Participants were contacted for a telephone interview within six months after discharge. Results: The quality of life, calculated through the SF-12, of patients admitted for COVID- 19 in 2020-21 is worse than the sample discharged from the ICU in the previous period, 2019-2020. Conclusions: The quality of life indices that emerged in both the pandemic and prepandemic eras were lower than average, but when comparing the two cohorts, the indices collected in the pandemic era were lower. [Publisher's Text].