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Lower quality of life in obese ICU survivors: a multicenter cohort study

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Abstract

Purpose

To compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and functional status between obese, underweight, normal-weight, and overweight patients after three months post-intensive care unit (ICU) discharge.

Methods

Multicenter cohort study (10 Brazilian ICUs). 1600 ICU survivors (≥ 72 h in the ICU) were included.The main outcomes were HRQoL and functional status assessed three months after the ICU discharge. The secondary outcomes were mortality, hospital readmission, and ICU readmission during the same period.

Results

Obese patients (median 50.1; IQR 39.6–59.6) had lower HRQoL in the mental component than normal-weight patients (median 53; IQR 45.6–60.1) (p = 0.033). No differences were found between BMI categories regarding the physical component of HRQoL and the Barthel Index (p = 0.355 and 0.295, respectively). Regarding readmissions, 65.1 and 25.1% of patients were readmitted to the hospital and ICU, but there was no difference between the groups (p = 0.870 and 0.220, respectively). Obese patients died less frequently (11.8%) than underweight (30.9%) and normal-weight (19.3%) patients (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

After three months of post-ICU discharge, obese patients had lower HRQoL in the mental component than normal-weight patients. However, obese patients died less than underweight and normal-weight patients.

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Data availability

The authors encourage interested parties to contact the corresponding author for data sharing requests, including for access to additional unpublished data.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Program for Institutional Development of the Unified Health System (PROADI-SUS) of the Ministry of Health, to the Hospital Moinhos de Vento in Porto Alegre/RS; to the participating ICUs and the researchers involved.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Post-Graduation Program in Rehabilitation Sciences, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Sarmento Leite Street, 245, Porto Alegre, 90050-170, Brazil

    Mirceli Goulart Barbosa & Cassiano Teixeira

  2. UNIMED, Venancio Aires Street, 1040, Porto Alegre, 90040-191, Brazil

    Daniel Sganzerla

  3. Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Sul (UFRGS), Paulo Gama Street, Without Number, Porto Alegre, 90040-060, Brazil

    Adriana Cristine Koch Buttelli

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  4. Cassiano Teixeira
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Mirceli Goulart Barbosa: Conceptualization; Methodology; Investigation; Writing—Original Draft. Daniel Sganzerla: Formal analysis. Adriana Cristine Koch Buttelli: Methodology; Investigation; Writing—Review & Editing. Cassiano Teixeira: Conceptualization; Methodology; Resources; Writing—Review & Editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mirceli Goulart Barbosa.

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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All the participants or their representatives provided consent to participate in the study. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre on March 12, 2021, under number 4,587,807. The procedures followed were in accordance with the standards of the ethics committee responsible for human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975. This manuscript was written in accordance with the recommendations of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) initiative.

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Barbosa, M.G., Sganzerla, D., Buttelli, A.C.K. et al. Lower quality of life in obese ICU survivors: a multicenter cohort study. Qual Life Res 33, 361–371 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-023-03523-w

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