Post-Intensive Care Syndrome and Its New Challenges in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Review of Recent Advances and Perspectives

Abstract

Intensive care unit survivors experience prolonged physical impairments, cognitive impairments, and mental health problems, commonly referred to as post-intensive care syndrome (PICS). Previous studies reported the prevalence, assessment, and prevention of PICS, including the ABCDEF bundle approach. Although the management of PICS has been advanced, the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) posed an additional challenge to PICS. The prevalence of PICS after COVID-19 extensively varied with 28–87% of cases pertaining to physical impairments, 20–57% pertaining to cognitive impairments, and 6–60% pertaining to mental health problems after 1–6 months after discharge. Each component of the ABCDEF bundle is not sufficiently provided from 16% to 52% owing to the highly transmissible nature of the virus. However, new data are emerging about analgesia, sedation, delirium care, nursing care, early mobilization, nutrition, and family support. In this review, we summarize the recent data on PICS and its new challenge in PICS after COVID-19 infection.

Analysis of mental and physical disorders associated with COVID-19 in online health forums: a natural language processing study

“… 23 A significant proportion of people who have received intensive care treatment for COVID-19 have post-intensive care syndrome characterised by physical and cognitive impairments and problems with mental health. 24 This could explain the increasing rates of threads related to intensive care treatment due to forum users’ concerns of the potential need for intensive care treatment, raising questions about family members or friends currently receiving intensive care treatment, or in relation to problems faced after being discharged from the intensive care setting.…”

Sex-Specific Aspects of Skeletal Muscle Metabolism in the Clinical Context of Intensive Care Unit-Acquired Weakness

“…It is characterized by loss of muscle mass and functionality [2,3]. ICU-related physical impairments contribute to reduced quality of life and disabilities in survivors' activities of daily living [4,5]. ICUAW is a risk factor for the post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), which is defined by physical and cognitive impairments as well as mental health problems [5].…”

“…ICU-related physical impairments contribute to reduced quality of life and disabilities in survivors' activities of daily living [4,5]. ICUAW is a risk factor for the post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), which is defined by physical and cognitive impairments as well as mental health problems [5]. Recently, attention has been drawn to PICS as a relevant burden in the COVID-19 pandemic [5].…”

One-Year Outcomes of Postintensive Care Syndrome in Critically Ill Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients: A Single Institutional Study

“…A composite endpoint of these score results was considered as mental PICS. Cognitive PICS was defined when the patient claimed to have deterioration of either concentration, memory, or forgetfulness throughout the follow-up period, along with a SMQ score of less than or equal to 39 at the 1-year assessment ( 21 , 24 ). Diagnosis of PICS was made for patients with least one impairment in the three PICS domains.…”