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30% of ICU survivors go through PTSD

30% of ICU survivors go through PTSD

Last updated on: March 4, 2013 at 9:36 am by Desh Kapoor

30% of ICU survivors go through PTSD 2013-03-04T09:36:59-06:00 Desh Kapoor

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The Post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is very common amongst those who have experienced the trauma like being in war, being sexually assaulted etc. But now a new study at John Hopkins shows that the PTSD symptoms are also common amongst those who have been at the ICU for medical situations.

One in three people who survived stays in an intensive care unit (ICU) and required use of a mechanical ventilator showed substantial post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms that lasted for up to two years, according to a new Johns Hopkins study of patients with acute lung injury.

Because acute lung injury (ALI) — a syndrome marked by excessive fluid in the lungs and frequent multi-organ failure — is considered an archetype for critical illness, the researchers suspect PTSD is common among other ICU survivors as well.

The study was extensive and was done over a two years period.

For the study, the Johns Hopkins team observed 520 mechanically ventilated patients with ALI, recruited from 13 ICUs at four Baltimore hospitals between October 2004 and October 2007. Fifty-three percent survived their hospitalization, and 186 patients had at least one research visit over the subsequent two-year follow-up period.

The researchers found that 66 of the 186 patients (35 percent) had clinically significant symptoms of PTSD, with the greatest apparent onset occurring by the initial, three-month follow-up visit. Sixty-two percent of the survivors who developed PTSD still had symptoms at their two-year visit. Half of this same group was taking psychiatric medications, and 40 percent had seen a psychiatrist in the two years since being hospitalized with ALI.

Since the PTSD impacts the recovery from illness due to depression that sets in; this finding points to the need for regular and sustained engagement with the patients who have been treated in the ICU.

The symptoms and the impacts are the following in PTSD:

1. “Reliving” the event, which disturbs day-to-day activity

Flashback episodes, where the event seems to be happening again and again
Repeated upsetting memories of the event
Repeated nightmares of the event
Strong, uncomfortable reactions to situations that remind you of the event

2. Avoidance

Emotional “numbing,” or feeling as though you don’t care about anything
Feeling detached
Being unable to remember important aspects of the trauma
Having a lack of interest in normal activities
Showing less of your moods
Avoiding places, people, or thoughts that remind you of the event
Feeling like you have no future

3. Arousal

Difficulty concentrating
Startling easily
Having an exaggerated response to things that startle you
Feeling more aware (hypervigilance)
Feeling irritable or having outbursts of anger
Having trouble falling or staying asleep

You might feel guilt about the event (including “survivor guilt”). You might also have some of the following symptoms, which are typical of anxiety, stress, and tension:

Agitation or excitability
Dizziness
Fainting
Feeling your heart beat in your chest
Headache

Mechanical ventilation

Posttraumatic stress disorder

PTSD

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