Intensive Care Unit Acquired Weakness: Measuring Recovery from Critical Illness

Abstract

Critical illness can lead to muscle wasting, functional decline and long-term disability. This is well described subjectively in the literature; however, to date, objective measures have proved elusive. This narrative review aims to explore the objective measurement tools available to assess intensive care unit-acquired weakness, to review the psychometric properties of these tools and to show current practice and the obstacles we face in the development of new measurement scales.