Postintensive care syndrome in COVID-19. Unicentric pilot study. Calm does not come after the storm

INTRODUCTION: Postintensive care syndrome (PICS) is the physical, cognitive or psychiatric deterioration that appears after a critical illness and persists beyond hospital admission. The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence of PICS in the patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) admitted to the intensive care unit of the Consorcio Hospital General Universitario de Valencia. PATIENTS: They benefited from a standardized assessment, addressing health-related quality of life (EuroQol-5D-3L), a physical status (6 MWT, “test up and go” and hand dynamometer), a nutritional assessment (MUST and the Global Subjective Assessment), cognitive impairment (MoCA), mental health disorders (HADS and Davidson Trauma Scale) and pain (visual analogue scale and DN4). RESULTS: From March to June 2020, 59 patients with SARS-CoV-2 were admitted to our ICU. 29 of these were recruited for the study. The stay in the ICU and the mechanical ventilation time were long (24 days [IQR 12–36], and 18 days [IQR 7–31] respectively). The SOFA upon admission to the ICU was high (3 [IQR 3–5]). Tracheostomy was performed in 52% and pronation in 93%. 90% had some abnormal test. 20% had post-traumatic stress syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: We found that 9 out of 10 survivors of SARS-CoV-2 admitted had at least one PICS alteration at 4–6 weeks from discharge from the Hospital. Six out of 19 patients presented with two or more affected evaluated areas.