Who is at risk to develop PICS? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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PICS stands for post intensive care syndrome, and it is characterized by a number of physical and mental health conditions that may follow someone’s stay in an ICU. Rohan Mathur, a critical care expert at Johns Hopkins, says fatigue, memory compromise, post traumatic stress disorder and other issues may occur, with some more liable to develop them than others.

Mathur: We know for instance patients who've been in the ICU for at least four days and are much higher risk of developing at least one of these PICS related issues. We also know that having greater disease severity in other words patients who come in sicker are more likely to develop this, people who are older are also more likely to develop and oddly enough there is a gender difference too. People who are female tend to develop this more as well.  :28

Mathur encourages anyone who feels that may have PICS to speak to their physician about it, noting that people may be reluctant to do so, feeling they should be grateful to have survived. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.