Every year in North America, 5 million people are admitted to medical or surgical critical care units - this is more people than are diagnosed with cancer. About 80% of these critical care patients survive, but previous studies have shown that survivors may experience post-intensive care syndrome.
This syndrome combines cognitive impairment, depression,post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), functional disabilities and a decrease in quality of life.
To examine this further, the new study looked at mental health outcomes and functional disabilities in a general intensive care unit (ICU) population.