Longitudinal Study Evaluating Post-ICU Syndrome Differences between Acute Care Surgery and Trauma SICU Survivors

Post-ICU Syndrome (PICS) occurs at an exorbitant rate in SICU survivors. It remains unknown if critical illness due to trauma versus acute care surgery (ACS) may represent different pathophysiologic entities. In this longitudinal study, we determined if admission criteria in a cohort of trauma and ACS patients were associated with differences in the occurrence of PICS.Patients were ≥ 18 years, admitted to a level 1 trauma center to the Trauma or ACS services, remained in the SICU for ≥72 hours, and were seen in an ICU Recovery Center at 2-, 12-, and 24-weeks after hospital discharge. PICS sequelae were diagnosed by dedicated specialist staffing using clinical criteria and screening questionnaires. PICS symptoms were distilled into physical, cognitive, and psychiatric categories. Pre-admission histories, hospital courses, and recovery data were collected via retrospective chart review.126 patients were included: 74 (57.3%) trauma patients and 55 (42.6%) ACS patients. Prehospital psychosocial histories were similar between groups. ACS patients had a significantly longer hospital course, higher APACHE II and III scores, were intubated for longer, and had higher rates of sepsis, acute renal failure, open abdomen, and hospital readmissions. At the 2-week follow-up visit, ACS patients had higher rates of PICS sequelae (ACS 97.8% vs trauma 85.3%; p = 0.03), particularly in the physical (ACS 95.6% vs trauma 82.0%, p = 0.04) and psychiatric domains (ACS 55.6% vs trauma 35.0%, p = 0.04). At the 12- and 24-week visits, rates of PICS symptoms were comparable between groups.The occurrence of PICS is extraordinarily high in both trauma and ACS SICU survivors. Despite entering the SICU with similar psychosocial histories, the two cohorts have different pathophysiologic experiences which are associated with a higher rate of impairment in the ACS patients during early follow-up.Level III, Therapeutic/epidemiological.