Outcome from intensive care. III. A 5-year study of 1308 patients: activity levels.

In a prospective study of 1308 intensive care unit (ICU) patients, we studied the patients' activity levels, using a brief questionnaire posted to the patients every third month, for up to 1 year after the day of ICU admission. Patients were asked to indicate their present activity level compared with their perceived pre-hospital activity level. The response rate was 91%. One year after ICU admission 42% of the patients were dead; 44% of the survivors were recorded to have normal and 26% limited activity. Age influenced both the 1-year mortality and the activity level, the mortality increased from 25% among the youngest to 56% in the oldest patients. In the youngest age group 60% of the survivors reported having normal activity while almost 30% of the oldest survivors had returned to normal activity level within 1 year. Medical patients had a higher mortality and fewer of the survivors returned to their normal activity level compared with surgical patients. Having survived critical illness, a realistic hope of regaining a normal or near-normal activity level exists for many patients.