ICU Outcomes and Quality of Life in Lung Transplant Patients Readmitted to Intensive care

Admission to the ICU is relatively common in lung transplant recipients. The ICU mortality rate has been reported to be around 37% per admission. The aim of our study was to assess patient characteristics, ICU outcomes and QOL of lung transplant patients who required ICU readmission. ICU data from the first ICU readmission were collected retrospectively. QOL was assessed using SF36v2 tool prospectively. Cardiopulmonary transplant centre Participants: 63 lung transplant recipients who were readmitted to ICU formed the study group. 66 patients selected by computer random number generator software who underwent transplant at the same time but were not readmitted to ICU after transplant formed the control group. The response rate to the questionnaire was 70%. Mean ICU LOS was 4.53 (SD 4.68) days. Mean duration of mechanical ventilation was 3.83 (SD 4.03) days. Overall mortality was 21% in the study group and 9% in the control group (p = 0.08). SF36v2 scores were lower in the study population compared to Australian norms. The mean PCS summary scores for study group and control groups were 42.21 (SD 12.81) and 45.32 (SD 11.28) respectively (p = 0.267) and that for the mean MCS were 45.68 (SD 12.37) and 47.79 (SD 9.25) respectively (p= 0.410). Lung transplant patients requiring ICU readmission had higher overall mortality (p= 0.08). Those patients who survived had good ICU outcomes and similar QOL scores compared to those who did not require ICU readmission.