The following is a summary of “Trajectories of quality of life, return to work, psychopathology, and disability in survivors of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS): A three-year prospective cohort study (DACAPO).,” published in the June 2023 issue of Critical Care by Syzmczak et al.

For a study, researchers aimed to examine the progression of outcomes in survivors of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) over the long term. They conducted a cohort study on  N = 877 ARDS survivors. They examined various factors such as health-related quality of life (HRQoL, physical and mental Component Scale: PCS, MCS of the SF-12), return to work (RtW), panic disorder, depressive symptoms  (PHQ-D), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, PTSS-14)) at multiple time points 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 months post-ICU discharge. There was an initial increase in PCS, MCS, and RtW within the first 12 months [e.g. PCS: Md = 36 (IQR 31–43) a 3 months  Md = 42 (IQR 34–52) at 12 months; MCS: Md = 44 (IQR 32–54) at 3 months, Md = 47 (IQR 33–57) at 12 months, RtW = 23.2% at 3 months, 54.5% at 12 months], which then remained relatively stable over time.

The percentage of individuals with major depressive syndrome decreased from 3 (14.2%) to 36 months (8.9%). Proportions of panic disorder (5.3% to 7.4%) and PTSD (27.1% to 32.6%) showed minimal variation.

They concluded that most improvements in HRQoL RtW occur within the initial 12 months, reaching a plateau that suggests a chronic state for many patients. In contrast, psychopathological symptoms generally remain stable, except for depressive symptoms.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883944123001053