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Spouse admitted into the intensive care unit (ICU) may make a person more prone to have a heart attack or cardiac-related hospitalization in few weeks of the ICU admission, according to the research published in the journal Circulation.
"Spouses of ICU patients should pay attention to their own physical health, especially in terms of cardiovascular disease," said the study's senior author Hiroyuki Ohbe, M.D., M.P.H., a Ph.D. student in the department of clinical epidemiology and health economics in the School of Public Health at The University of Tokyo in Japan.

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Having a spouse in a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) may make a person more likely to have a heart attack or cardiac-related hospitalization themselves within a few weeks of the ICU admission, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation.

“Spouses of ICU patients should pay attention to their own physical health, especially in terms of cardiovascular disease,” said the study’s senior author Hiroyuki Ohbe, M.D., M.P.H., a Ph.D. student in the department of clinical epidemiology and health economics in the School of Public Health at The University of Tokyo in Japan. “The ICU can be a stressful environment with significant caregiving burdens, and spouses may face tough decisions about continuing or ending life-sustaining treatment.”

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Post-traumatic stress disorder, a form of anxiety disorder common among war veterans, was also frequently seen among intensive care patients put on a ventilator, a new study shows.

Some patients showed significant effects of the condition, also known as PTSD, up to two years later.

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Background: Hyperglycaemia occurs frequently in critically ill patients without diabetes. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate whether this 'stress hyperglycaemia' identifies survivors of critical illness at increased risk of subsequently developing diabetes.

Methods: We searched the MEDLINE and Embase databases from their inception to February 2016. We included observational studies evaluating adults admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) who developed stress hyperglycaemia if the researchers reported incident diabetes or prediabetes diagnosed ≥3 months after hospital discharge. Two reviewers independently screened the titles and abstracts of identified studies and evaluated the full text of relevant studies. Data were extracted using pre-defined data fields, and risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Pooled ORs with 95 % CIs for the occurrence of diabetes were calculated using a random-effects model.

Results: Four cohort studies provided 2923 participants, including 698 with stress hyperglycaemia and 131 cases of newly diagnosed diabetes. Stress hyperglycaemia was associated with increased risk of incident diabetes (OR 3.48; 95 % CI 2.02-5.98; I 2 = 36.5 %). Studies differed with regard to definitions of stress hyperglycaemia, follow-up and cohorts studied.

Conclusions: Stress hyperglycaemia during ICU admission is associated with increased risk of incident diabetes. The strength of this association remains uncertain because of statistical and clinical heterogeneity among the included studies.

Keywords: Blood glucose; Critical care; Hyperglycaemia; Meta-analysis; Prediabetes; Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

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Background Post–intensive care syndrome–family (PICS-F) refers to acute and chronic psychological effects of critical care on family members of patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Evidence suggests that increased distress during the ICU stay increases risk of PICS-F. Sensation Awareness Focused Training (SAF-T) is a new, promising stress management intervention, but the feasibility of such training during the ICU stay for family caregivers who are acting as the surrogate decision-maker for patients who are undergoing mechanical ventilation is unknown.
Objectives To assess feasibility and acceptability of SAF-T to inform a future larger randomized controlled trial.
Methods This randomized controlled trial of SAF-T (n = 5) versus a control (n = 5) group was conducted at a level 1 trauma center. Participants assigned to SAF-T completed 1 session daily for 3 days. Measures included enrollment rate, data completion rate, acceptability of SAF-T, and symptoms of PICS-F. Scales used included Perceived Stress, Hospital Anxiety and Depression, Impact of Event, and National Institutes of Health Toolbox Emotion Battery.
Results Mean age was 58 (SD, 12) years; 70% of participants were female. Predetermined feasibility criteria were met in enrollment rate (67%), outcome measures completion rate (> 90%), and SAF-T acceptability (100% of doses completed during the ICU stay) without adverse events. Stress scores after SAF-T were significantly lower than scores before SAF-T ( ˉ z = −3.5, P = .01).
Conclusions SAF-T intervention during the ICU stay is feasible, acceptable, and may improve family caregivers’post-ICU outcomes. Larger clinical trial to assess the
effectiveness of SAF-T in preventing PICS-F seem war-ranted.

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Now, a new study of 645 ARDS survivors by researchers at Intermountain Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Utah, has identified subgroups of ARDS survivors who suffer what’s been called post-intensive care syndrome, a collection of symptoms that can linger for years.

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Now, a new study of 645 ARDS survivors by researchers at Intermountain Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Utah, has identified subgroups of ARDS survivors who suffer what’s been called post-intensive care syndrome, a collection of symptoms that can linger for years.

“A lot of work has been done around post-intensive care syndrome. We’re realizing the people who are surviving are often terribly wounded, and they have emotional and psychological distress as severe as combat veterans returning from war,” said Samuel M. Brown, MD, lead author of the study and director of the Center for Humanizing Critical Care at Intermountain Medical Center. “They may have profound weakness or shortness of breath or other important limitations to their quality of life after they survive.”

Results of the new study, which was funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, are published inThorax, one of the world’s leading journals for specialists in respiratory and critical care medicine.

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It's a decision being made thousands of times over inside hospitals all around the country: is it time to place a patient struggling to breathe on a ventilator? For all of the attention ventilators have received during the COVID-19 pandemic, deciding when to place patients on them--and when to take them off--is complex.

Michigan Medicine researchers have been investigating best practices for mechanical ventilation for years, never knowing how applicable their work would become.

In a new paper in the journal CHEST, lead author and clinical lecturer Jennifer Ervin, Ph.D., MSc of the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Michigan Medicine and her team outline 20 evidence-based practices shown to reduce time spent on a ventilator and death in patients with acute respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress--conditions that have many overlaps with severe COVID-19.

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Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Having a spouse in a hospital intensive care unit increases a person's risk for a heart attack or cardiac-related hospitalization, according to a study published Monday in the journal Circulation.

The analysis of health outcomes for more than 1 million married couples found that those with a spouse in the ICU were 27% more likely to be admitted to the hospital with some form of heart disease than those whose spouses were healthy, the data showed.

They also are at slightly higher risk for being diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, the researchers said.

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Survival can seem like the only goal during a stay in a hospital’s intensive care unit. But for many patients, the aftermath can be just as harrowing. Now, an international initiative has launched support groups designed to help those who have left the ICU — if they can be persuaded to come in and talk about their struggles.

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This protocol is for hospitals participating in the national/regional surveillance of healthcare-associated infections in intensive care units across Europe. It aims to describe methods for participating ICUs and national coordinating centres to ensure standardisation of definitions, data collection and reporting procedures. This protocol is an update of a previous version 2.1 released in June 2015.

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PHOENIX -- Nurse practitioner and physician assistant (NP/PA) care in the ICU could have a mortality benefit compared with care teams solely comprising resident physicians, a study showed.
Survival among patients in an ICU cared for by PA and acute care NP was 92.2% compared with 88.6% among those cared for in an adjacent ICU by a team of residents (P=0.047), with all other staffing and resources equal, Joe Keller, PA-c, of the Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues found.