Post-Intensive Care Syndrome in a Cohort of School-Aged Children and Adolescent ICU Survivors: The Importance of Follow-up in the Acute Recovery Phase

Abstract

AbstractPediatric intensive care unit (PICU) survivors experience a collection of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social symptoms named post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). We aimed to quantify PICS morbidities from multiple stakeholder perspectives across domains. Using physician, neuropsychologist, and parent/caregiver-completed outcome measures across domains in a cross-sectional analysis of 186 children between the ages of 8 and 19 years with data from a PICU follow-up clinic 1 to 3 months after PICU discharge, we quantified PICS morbidities and used Spearman correlation to evaluate interdependence of PICS domains. Compared with pre-hospitalization functioning, new PICS-related morbidities were observed and significant correlations were identified between the PICS domains. Results highlight the need to identify and support patients and families for multiple morbidities simultaneously across all relevant PICS domains; moreover, an important divergence between caregiver report, physician, and neuropsychologist assessment was also found, showcasing the importance of multiple assessments and perspectives. New PICS morbidities across domains are common after discharge from the PICU, and timely follow-up care is needed that involves collaboration/integration of physicians, neuropsychologists, youth, and families to effectively identify and treat PICS-related issues.