The following is a summary of “Trajectories of post-traumatic stress in sepsis survivors two years after ICU discharge: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial,” published in the January 2024 issue of Critical Care by Schmidt et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to map and contrast the diverse long-term courses of post-traumatic stress symptoms in sepsis survivors for two years after ICU discharge.
They gathered post-traumatic stress symptom data using the Post-traumatic Symptom Scale (PTSS-10) at one, six, 12, and 24 months post-ICU discharge. Chronic psychiatric diagnoses before ICU admission were obtained from the primary care provider’s health records and ICU treatment data from ICU documentation. Post hoc analysis revealed post-traumatic symptom trajectories, distinguishing change patterns through k-means clustering. Multinomial log-linear models predicted trajectory assignments.
The results showed that at 24 months, N = 175 patients completed all PTSS-10 follow-up measurements. Clinical trajectories of PTSS levels identified three clusters: stable low symptoms (N = 104 patients [59%]), increasing symptoms (N = 45 patients [26%]), and symptom recovery (N = 26 patients [15%]). Patients initially with high post-traumatic symptoms were more likely to experience a decrease (OR with 95% CI: 1.1 [1.05, 1.16]). Females (OR = 2.45 [1.11, 5.41]) and patients with early traumatic ICU memories (OR = 4.04 [1.63, 10]) had a higher risk of increasing PTSS levels.
Investigators concluded that a two-year post-sepsis study revealed diverse PTSS trajectories, with 25% showing delayed symptom increase, emphasizing long-term monitoring, especially for females and those with early ICU trauma memories.
Source: ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-024-04815-4