Recovery After ICU Treatment: A Prospective Cohort Study

An increasing number of patients are treated at ICUs worldwide. The majority of these patients survive critical illness and are discharged from the hospital. A stay at the ICU is most often related to life-threatening conditions and displays a major impact on both physical and mental resources of the patients. Studies have shown that a great part of these patients also have physical and psychological impairments lasting for a long period after their hospital stay. The condition is termed the "post intensive care syndrome" (PICS) and describes a state with wide range of symptoms as fatigue, depression, anxiety, memory loss as well as both cognitive and physical impairment. During the first five years after discharge, more than half of ICU survivors had suffered at least one episode of depression or anxiety

ICU treatment often involves immobilization and sedation that may lead to both muscle weakness, critical illness myopathy and/or polyneuropathy. This may not only affect the patients during the ICU or hospital stay, but also for a longer post-discharge period. A recent study demonstrated that measured physical health related quality of life was impaired for up to one year after hospitalization, and that the physical performance at five years post-discharge continued to be lower than in the background population. The physical impairments may also influence patient's working ability, and among previously working individuals only half had returned to work within the first year after ICU hospitalization. After five years, up to 25 % still had not returned to work.

In Denmark, more than 30.000 people are annually admitted to intensive care units. The annual report from the Danish Intensive Care Database (DID) present data regarding a variety of outcomes, including length of stay, survival rate and 90 days re-admission to hospital. The reports demonstrate an increased quality of care but offer limited information on longer term outcome including quality of life for these patients. A recent study have indicated that Danish patients might suffer from the same psychological and physical impairments as found in international studies, but a better characteristic of the population is needed. Especially since the level of public care, including early rehabilitation in hospital differs between countries.

It is therefore essential to investigate and describe the needs, standard of care and the physical and cognitive status of these patients both in-hospital and post-discharge in order to establish the right level of aftercare for the Danish population. This study aims at investigating the in-hospital care as well as the physical and cognitive status of a Danish cohort of ICU patients at 3 and 12 month post-discharge.

The investigators plan to do a substudy regarding exposure to circadian light and delirium.