Clinical study

A one-year follow-up study focusing on mortality, health-related quality of life, cognitive function, and patients’ experiences.

Delirium is a clinical condition that frequently occurs in Intensive Care Units (ICU) and has been reported with incidences ranging from 20 % to 84 %. Delirium is an acute brain dysfunction that is defined and characterised by acute changes of consciousness with inattention and a tendency to fluctuate over time.

Research have shown that ICU acquired delirium is an independent predictor for increased duration of mechanical ventilation, increased length of stay in ICU and hospital, higher mortality, long-term impairments as physical and cognitive are experienced after discharge. Especially is ICU acquired delirium a strong predictor for long-term cognitive impairment persisting up to years after discharge. Despite the increased knowledge concerning ICU acquired delirium, long-term follow-up studies exploring what impact ICU acquired delirium has on ICU survivors and their experiences one year after are lacking.

The overall aim of this thesis is to explore long-term outcomes and experiences of ICU-acquired delirium, emphasising mortality, health-related quality of life, cognitive function, and patients’ experiences.

The design of this thesis originates from a larger multi-centred randomised, blinded, placebo-controlled trial “Agents Intervening against Delirium in the Intensive Care Unit trial (AID-ICU)”. The AID-ICU trial aims to assess the benefits and harms of haloperidol for treating delirium in 1000 adult critically ill patients.

This thesis will focus on the one-year follow-up of the AID-ICU trial (1). Study I aims to explore mortality and HRQoL one year after enrollment to the AID-ICU study, where one-year mortality will be obtained by the trial sites and by using EQ-5D-5L to explore HRQoL. Study II aims to explore cognitive function one year after enrollment to the AID-ICU study at selected sites using The Repeatable Battery for Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Study III aims to explore ICU survivors’ experiences of their health-related quality of life and cognitive function one year after delirium in the ICU, using interviews and the framework analysis for data analysis.

Increased knowledge and understanding of the long-term impact of ICU and delirium in the ICU can facilitate the development of treatment and rehabilitation plans and help mitigate the challenges that ICU survivors experience.