Abstract Introduction Few studies have evaluated post-ICU quality of life using the SF-36 instrument, and no Chilean data exist for mechanically ventilated ICU survivors. This study assessed health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after mechanical ventilation due to pulmonary disease. Methods Descriptive cross-sectional study of 52 ICU survivors evaluated 6-12 months after discharge. HRQoL was measured using SF-36 and EQ-5D-3L questionaries. Demographic and clinical variables collected were age, sex, APACHE II, SOFA, ICU length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS, and duration of mechanical ventilation (MV). Group comparisons of SF-36 domains and continuous variables (MV days, ICU/hospital LOS, severity scores) were explored using Spearman’s ρ. Multiple linear regression models with collinearity diagnostics were applied to identify independent predictors of SF-36 dimensions. Results Mean ± SD values for the cohort were: APACHE II = 18.4 ± 6.2; SOFA = 7.3 ± 2.9; ICU stay = 12.6 ± 7.8 days; hospital stay = 24.1 ± 11.5 days; and MV = 9.4 ± 5.6 days. No significant differences were found by sex or age group (65 vs ≥ 65 years). Women had lower scores in Physical Function (PF), Role Physical (RP), General Health (GH), and Vitality (VT) compared with men (p 0.05). Patients ≥65 years showed lower PF (p = 0.017). Duration of MV and ICU stay correlated inversely with PF (ρ = 0.61; p 0.001) and Mental Health (MH) (ρ = 0.54; p 0.001). High collinearity was observed among exposure variables and PF (VIF = 5.8-7.3; tolerance = 0.14-0.17; r = 0.59; adjusted R² = 0.35), indicating shared variance between ICU LOS, hospital LOS, MV days, and severity scores. This multicollinearity limited identification of independent PF predictors. The EQ-5D-3L index showed weak, non-significant correlations with SF-36 domains, while EQ-VAS demonstrated stronger associations with PF (ρ = 0.610), RP (ρ = 0.542), and MH (ρ = 0.540) (p 0.001). Conclusions ICU survivors after mechanical ventilation experience persistent physical and psychological impairments, especially among women and older adults. PF is inversely related to exposure to critical illness, highlighting the need for post-ICU rehabilitation programs sensitive to sex and age differences. Self-rated health measured by EQ-VAS aligns more closely with SF-36 domains than the EQ-5D index, supporting its use as a responsive PROM for post-ICU follow-up and rehabilitation. This abstract is funded by: None
Morales et al. (Fri,) studied this question.