49 MENTAL FRAILTY IN ICU-SURVIVORS & INFORMAL CAREGIVER STRAIN 3 3.4 DISCUSSION This study demonstrated that more than a third of ICU-survivors are mentally frail 12-months after ICU-admission. The number of patients with mental frailty increased between 3 and 12-months, illustrating the progressive nature of these serious mental health problems. Symptoms of depression were the most prominent mental health complaints throughout the year, with anxiety-related issues as a runner-up. Mental frailty had a detrimental impact on mental HRQoL and caregiver burden, suggesting a wide spread influence of frailty on patients’ daily lives. Although psychiatric history and delirium did not significantly predict long-term mental frailty, higher depression scores (≥8 on HADS-D) at 3-months resulted in a tenfold increase in odds and may be an appropriate marker for early detection of patients at risk. Mental frailty is anewand relativelyunexploredaspect of long-termvulnerability in patients and healthy individuals. Despite the generally physical focus within the concept of frailty, an increasing level of attention has been attributed to the impact of mental and cognitive wellbeing on health and susceptibility to disease.22,23 In this study, using a mental frailty definition based on threshold levels of depression, anxiety, and trauma, 38% of patients were identified as “frail” after 12-months. A previous study in the post-acute setting showed that anxiety, depression, and trauma-related symptoms were common at 1-year Figure 5. Mental HRQoL at 12-months after discharge comparing patients with mental frailty (black) after 1 year to patients with no mental frailty (red). MH, mental health; RE, problems in role functioning due to emotional problems; EF, energy/fatigue; SF, social functioning. *** p<0.001 Mental HRQoL domain scores 12m (RAND-36 0-100) 0 50 100 MH RE EF SF *** *** *** ***
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjY0ODMw