Risk Factors for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Surrogate Decision-Makers of Patients with Chronic Critical Illness.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Chronically critically ill patients are often dependent on family members for surrogate decision-making, and these surrogates are at high risk for emotional distress. We hypothesized that patient- and surrogate-specific risk factors for surrogate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms can be identified early in the course of chronic critical illness.

Objectives

To identify risk factors for PTSD symptoms in surrogate decision-makers of chronically critically ill patients.

Methods

We performed a secondary analysis of the database from a multicenter randomized trial of a communication intervention for chronic critical illness patients and surrogates. Variables preselected for plausible mechanism for increasing PTSD symptoms and identifiable by Day 10 of

SUBMITTER: Wendlandt B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6322020 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature