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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Neurodevelopmental disabilities and quality of life after intensive care treatment
Julije Mestrovic1, Goran Kardum, Alan Sustic
1Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Split University Hospital, 21000 Croatia. julije.mestrovic@st.t-com.hr
Insights
Most children treated in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) experience good quality of life post-discharge. However, children with neurodevelopmental disabilities face more health challenges and a lower quality of life.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric critical care medicine
- Quality of life research
- Child health outcomes
Background:
- Assessing quality of life (QOL) after Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) treatment is crucial for understanding long-term child health.
- Comparing QOL between children with and without chronic health conditions post-PICU provides insights into specific challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the quality of life (QOL) in children after Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) treatment.
- To compare QOL in children with and without chronic health conditions post-PICU discharge.
Main Methods:
- Quality of life was evaluated using the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children (RAHC) Measure of Function.
- This measure assesses disease impact, physical function, emotional well-being, behavior, development, social roles, and school performance.
Main Results:
- Most children (88.8% without chronic conditions, 81.6% with non-neurodevelopmental chronic conditions) reported minimal health issues and good QOL.
- Only 21.4% of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities had good QOL; 39.3% reported fair QOL, and 39.3% reported poor QOL.
Conclusions:
- The majority of children treated in the PICU achieve a good quality of life after discharge.
- While children with other chronic conditions showed similar QOL to those without, neurodevelopmental disabilities were associated with significantly higher health problems and poorer QOL.
Aim:
To analyze the quality of life after Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) treatment and compare the differences between quality of life in children who suffer chronic health conditions, and those who do not, post discharge from PICU.
Method:
Quality of life was assessed using the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children (RAHC) Measure of Function which incorporates measures of domains that delineate severity or impact of disease symptoms, physical disability, mobility, emotional distress, behavior, deviation from normal growth and development, impairment in social rules, and performance at school and in leisure activities.
Results:
Families of 371 children were contacted for RAHC Measure of Function scoring. The results showed that the majority of children with no chronic condition (88.8%), as well as those with a chronic condition other than neurodevelopmental disability (81.6%) had minimal ongoing health problems and good quality of life. Only 21.4% of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities fell into this category, 39.3% had poor quality of life and 39.3% had fair quality of life.
Conclusion:
The results suggest that the majority of patients discharged from the PICU go on to have a good quality of life. The quality of life of patients with other chronic condition did not differ significantly from children who did not suffer from a chronic condition, with the majority of both groups having minimal residual health problems. Conversely, children with neurodevelopmental disabilities were found to have a higher level of health problems and only a fair quality of life compared with the other two groups.
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