Fig. 1

Study flowchart. Necrotizing soft tissue infection (NSTI) survivors (n  =  49) admitted (n  =  24) or not (n  =  25) to the intensive care unit (ICU) were included in the study. First, association of admission characteristics to the long-term health-related quality of life (QOL) of all NSTI survivors was assessed. Then, in order to explore the impact of both NSTI itself and of ICU admission on QOL, NSTI patients admitted to the ICU (n  =  24) were compared to: (1) non-ICU-admitted (n  =  25) NSTI patients; and (2) ICU-admitted non-NSTI septic shock patients (n  =  32) after SAPS II matching. The 24 NSTI patients admitted to the ICU were matched according to SAPS II on a 1:1 ratio for 10 patients and a 1:2 ratio for 11 patients, with 3 patients finding no match, to a total of 32 non-NSTI septic shock patients