Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Jan;41(1):53-71.
doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2024.08.001. Epub 2024 Oct 3.

Pediatric Post-Intensive Care Syndrome and Current Therapeutic Options

Cydni N Williams  1 , Neethi P Pinto  2 , Gillian A Colville  3
Affiliations
Review

Pediatric Post-Intensive Care Syndrome and Current Therapeutic Options

Cydni N Williams et al. Crit Care Clin. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

Post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) impacts most pediatric critical care survivors. PICS spans physical, cognitive, emotional, and social health domains and is increasingly recognized in survivorship literature. Children pose unique challenges in identifying and treating PICS given the inherent population heterogeneity in pediatric samples with biological differences across ages and neurodevelopmental stages, unique disease pathophysiology, strong environmental influences on disease and recovery, and lack of standardized measurements to identify morbidities or track response to intervention. Emerging literature and the recent development of specialized multidisciplinary clinics highlight opportunities for intervention across PICS domains in inpatient and outpatient settings.

Keywords: Cognitive function; Critical care; Outcomes; Parents; Pediatrics; Rehabilitation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure Dr. C.N. Williams is supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, United States (NHLBI K23HL150229). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NHLBI.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Pollack MM, Holubkov R, Funai T, et al. Pediatric intensive care outcomes: development of new morbidities during pediatric critical care. Pediatr Crit Care Med 2014;15(9):821–7. 10.1097/PCC.0000000000000250. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Manning JC, Pinto NP, Rennick JE, et al. Conceptualizing post intensive care syndrome in children-the PICS-p framework. Pediatr Crit Care Med 2018;19(4):298–300. 10.1097/PCC.0000000000001476. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Needham DM, Davidson J, Cohen H, et al. Improving long-term outcomes after discharge from intensive care unit: report from a stakeholders’ conference. Crit Care Med 2012;40(2):502–9. 10.1097/CCM.0b013e318232da75. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Knudsen EI. Sensitive periods in the development of the brain and behavior. J Cognit Neurosci 2004;16(8):1412–25. 10.1162/0898929042304796. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Johnston MV. Plasticity in the developing brain: implications for rehabilitation. Dev Disabil Res Rev 2009;15(2):94–101. 10.1002/ddrr.64. - DOI - PubMed

Supplementary concepts