Objective: To describe quality of life (QoL) among sepsis survivors. Design: Secondary analyses of 2 international, randomized clinical trials (ACCESS [derivation cohort] and PROWESS-SHOCK [validation cohort]). Patients: Adults with severe sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit. We analyzed only patients who were functional and living at home without help before sepsis hospitalization (n=1,143 and 987 from ACCESS and PROWESS-SHOCK). Measurements and Main Results: In ACCESS and PROWESS-SHOCK, the average age of patients living at home independently was 63 and 61 years; 400 (34.9%) and 298 (30.2%) died by 6 months. In ACCESS, 580 patients had a QoL measured using EQ-5D at 6 months. Of these, 41.6% could not live independently (22.7% were home but required help, 5.1% were in nursing home or rehabilitation facilities, and 5.3% were in acute care hospitals). Poor QoL at 6 months, as evidenced by problems in mobility, usual activities, and self-care domains were reported in 37.4%, 43.7%, and 20.5%, respectively, and the high incidence of poor QoL was also seen in patients in PROWESS-SHOCK. Over 45%of patients with mobility and self-care problems at 6 months in ACCESS died or reported persistent problems at 1 year. Conclusions: Among individuals enrolled in a clinical trial who lived independently prior to severe sepsis, one third had died and of those who survived, a further one third had not returned to independent living by 6 months. Both mortality and QoL should be considered when designing new interventions and considering endpoints for sepsis trials.