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Health-related quality of life after a drowning incident as a child

P K Suominen1, R Vähätalo, H Sintonen

  • 1Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Children's Hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. pertti.suominen@hus.fi

Resuscitation
|June 22, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Children surviving childhood drowning incidents often achieve good health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, longer submersion times negatively impact HRQoL outcomes following cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric intensive care
  • Emergency medicine
  • Public health

Background:

  • Childhood drowning is a significant cause of pediatric injury.
  • Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is critical for survival after drowning.
  • Long-term outcomes, including quality of life, require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in childhood drowning survivors.
  • To evaluate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained from CPR.
  • To examine the impact of CPR initiation (bystander vs. EMS) on long-term outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective study of 40 pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) survivors of drowning between 1985-2007.
  • HRQoL assessed using the 15D/16D/17D questionnaire in 2009.
  • Markov model used to estimate QALYs gained, incorporating HRQoL and survival data.

Main Results:

  • Long-term survivors (n=29) had a median age of 17.3 years.
  • Significant HRQoL loss observed in older children (0.881 vs. 0.971 general population, P<0.01).
  • Submersion time >10 minutes correlated with significantly lower HRQoL (0.844 vs. 0.938, P=0.032).

Conclusions:

  • Most childhood drowning survivors achieve good HRQoL.
  • Prolonged submersion time is a key factor negatively affecting long-term HRQoL.
  • Early CPR and prompt medical care are vital for favorable outcomes.
Abstract

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