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Observational Study
. 2023 Feb 27;27(1):76.
doi: 10.1186/s13054-023-04348-2.

Incidence of near-death experiences in patients surviving a prolonged critical illness and their long-term impact: a prospective observational study

Anne-Françoise Rousseau  1 , Laurence Dams  2 , Quentin Massart  2 , Laila Choquer  2 , Héléna Cassol  3   4 , Steven Laureys  3   4   5 , Benoit Misset  1 , Nadia Dardenne  6 , Olivia Gosseries  3   4   7 , Charlotte Martial  8   9
Affiliations
Observational Study

Incidence of near-death experiences in patients surviving a prolonged critical illness and their long-term impact: a prospective observational study

Anne-Françoise Rousseau et al. Crit Care. .

Abstract

Background: So far, the few prospective studies on near-death experience (NDE) were carried out only in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with homogeneous aetiologies, such as cardiac arrest or trauma survivors. The aims of this 1-year prospective and monocentric study were to investigate the incidence of NDE in ICU survivors (all aetiologies) as well as factors that may affect its frequency, and to assess quality of life up to 1 year after enrolment.

Methods: We enrolled adults with a prolonged ICU stay (> 7 days). During the first 7 days after discharge, all eligible patients were assessed in a face-to-face interview for NDE using the Greyson NDE scale, dissociative experiences using the Dissociative Experience Scale, and spirituality beliefs using the WHOQOL-SRPB. Medical parameters were prospectively collected. At 1-year after inclusion, patients were contacted by phone to measure quality of life using the EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire.

Results: Out of the 126 included patients, 19 patients (15%) reported having experienced a NDE as identified by the Greyson NDE scale (i.e. cut-off score ≥ 7/32). In univariate analyses, mechanical ventilation, sedation, analgesia, reason for admission, primary organ dysfunction, dissociative and spiritual propensities were associated with the emergence of NDE. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, only the dissociative and spiritual propensity strongly predicted the emergence of NDE. One year later (n = 61), the NDE was not significantly associated with quality of life.

Conclusions: The recall of NDE is not so rare in the ICU. In our cohort, cognitive and spiritual factors outweighed medical parameters as predictors of the emergence of NDE. Trial registration This trial was registered in Clinicaltrials.gov in February 2020 ( NCT04279171 ).

Keywords: Dissociation; Intensive care; Near-death experience; Prospective study.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Summary of the results of this 1-year prospective study. *p < 0.05; NDE = near-death experience; ICU = intensive care unit; DES = Dissociative Experience Scale; WHOQOL-SRPB = World Health Organization Quality of Life-Spirituality, Religiousness and Personal Beliefs; EQ-5D-3L = EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire; PaO2 = partial pressure of arterial oxygen; PaCO2 = partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide; SpO2 = peripheral oxygen saturation; OR = odds ratios; CI = confidence interval
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References

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