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Review
. 2025 Jan;41(1):73-88.
doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2024.08.008. Epub 2024 Sep 17.

Post-Intensive Care Syndrome Family

Alyssa C Smith  1 , Haley N Ferguson  2 , Rachel M Russell  1 , Parth Savsani  2 , Sophia Wang  3
Affiliations
Review

Post-Intensive Care Syndrome Family

Alyssa C Smith et al. Crit Care Clin. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

Family members of patients admitted to intensive care units often experience psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms, known as post-intensive care syndrome-family (PICS-F), due to the stress from having a critically ill loved one and resultant caregiver burden. Awareness of this syndrome is needed, as are prevention and management strategies, to improve outcomes.

Keywords: Caregiver burden; Critical care illness; PICS; PICS-F; Post-intensive care syndrome family.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures Drs A.C. Smith, H.N. Ferguson, R.M. Russell, and P. Savsani report no disclosures. Dr S. Wang has received book royalties from American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. and consultant fees for serving on Data Safety Monitoring Board for an NIA funded grant awarded to University of Illinois at Chicago.

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