Health Related Quality of Life and Mental Health in ICU Survivors: Post-Intensive Care Syndrome Follow-Up and Correlations between the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28)

We investigated the relationship between health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and psychological distress in intensive care unit (ICU) survivors 12 months after ICU discharge. The purpose of this study, conducted and completed before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, was to find correlations among psychiatric symptoms detected by a screening tool as the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and the different domains of HRQOL measured with the SF-36 health survey (SF-36), in order to identify ICU survivors with Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) who need a specific psychiatric intervention to improve their HRQOL. Among 298 ICU survivors who stayed in the ICU for at least 72 hours, 48 patients were enrolled one year after discharge undergoing a clinical interview to assess their functional impairment (Barthel index), mental health (GHQ-28), and health-related quality of life (SF-36). 19% of those subjects had a GHQ-28 ≥ 5 and were identified as “psychiatric cases”, and they were older and experienced a greater impairment in HRQOL. Anxiety, insomnia, and depressive symptoms seemed to be particularly involved in the impairment of HRQOL. A negative correlation between GHQ-28 total scores and subscales and SF-36 subscales was found. Our findings highlighted that psychological distress in ICU survivors may negatively impact physical health recovery and quality of life;conversely, physical impairment and functional disability may trigger the onset of psychiatric symptoms after discharge. The present study is firstly to investigate the correlations between HRQOL and psychological distress in ICU survivors through the GHQ-28, and then affirms the need to carry out follow-up checks for psychiatric symptoms in ICU survivors.

Hearing Impairment in Senile Dementia of Alzhaimer's Type

Objectives To evaluate peripheral auditory dysfunction in senile dementia of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and its relationship with cognitive dysfunction. Methods Pure tone thresholds,word recognition scores (WRS), acoustic immittance and auditory brain-stem responses (ABR) were tested to evaluate the auditory function in 43 AD patients and 50 normal subjects. The test reliability in these subjects was examined before the test results were evaluated for their correlation with the Mini Mental State Examination(MMSE) score. Results There were no statistically significant differences in peripheral auditory functions between the two ears in the tested subjects or between the two groups when the auditometric results of the right ear were compared(P > 0.05). Also, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups when audiometric test reliability, acoustic impedance and ABR results were compared(P > 0.05). Conclutions The pure tone audiometric threshold and WRS in AD patients are similar to those in comparable non-AD senile subjects. Peripheral auditory dysfunction is not related to cognitive dysfunction.