(1790) Psychological Outcomes for ECMO Survivors During Hospitalization

Introduction: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is life support for cardiac and/or respiratory failure. Primary research efforts for patients receiving ECMO have focused on survival, with increasing attention on long-term recovery, including psychological health. While long-term outcomes are well-explored for post-intensive care syndrome, less is defined specific to ECMO. Our objective was to examine psychological outcomes of patients receiving ECMO during their hospital admission with a 3-month follow-up.

Methods: Participants were recruited from four hospitals in a large healthcare system in the southwestern United States. Patients were recruited and consented in the ICU (IRB#21-384). Measures completed at baseline and 3-months included the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10-item (CD-RISC 10), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8), and Health-Related Quality of Life (EQ-5D-5L).

Results: In our sample of 45 participants, most were male (53%), white (64%), and non-Hispanic (77.8%). At baseline, 20% of participants met criteria for probable PTSD, with 29% having clinically significant scores (>=33) at follow-up. Clinically significant anxiety screening scores (>=10) decreased, but with 28% of patients meeting anxiety diagnosis scoring threshold at baseline and 25% meeting criteria at follow-up. Clinically significant depression scores (>=10) also decreased from baseline (M=6.5, SD=6.5) to follow-up (M= 5.9, SD=7.0), but patients meeting clinically significant depression increased from 21% at baseline to 25% at follow-up. Resilience scores increased from baseline (M=29.7, SD=10.3) to follow-up (M=30.7, SD=9.1). Quality of life also improved, from a mean of 50.7 at baseline to 69.2 at follow-up.

Conclusions: Prevalence of probable PTSD increased over time. Although mean depression scores decreased, there was an increase in the prevalence of clinically significant symptoms at 3-months. Quality of life and resilience improved over time, suggesting more research is needed to understand these relationships.