ReviewCritical care (London, England)2016
Reported burden on informal caregivers of ICU survivors: a literature review.
Review in Critical care (London, England), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 5 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 110 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Health Promoting Conversations Intervention for Families With a Critically Ill Relative: A Pilot RCT
Communication in ICU During COVID-19: Multinational, Multicentric Cross-sectional Survey (ComICU)
Impact of a COVID-19 Related ICU Stay on Mental Health for Patients and Their Relatives. An Exploratory 18-month Follow-up Study for COVID-19 ICU Survivors and Their Relatives.
Incidence and Factors Associated to The Development of Post-Intensive Care Syndrome Among Family Members of Intensive Care Unit Survivors: A Longitudinal Exploratory Study
A Phase I Clinical Trial Evaluating the Impact of the Family Room App on Caregiver Well-being, Satisfaction, and Engagement in the Intensive Care Unit
Who cites it
110 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 280 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Characteristics and Effectiveness of Nurse-Led Family Communication Interventions in the ICU: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Critical care medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Information or education interventions for adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients and their carers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Post-Intensive Care Syndrome and Caregiver Burden: A Post Hoc Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Can a Dyadic Resiliency Program Improve Quality of Life in Cognitively Intact Dyads of Neuro-ICU Survivors and Informal Caregivers? Results from a Pilot RCT.Neurocritical care · 2021Trial
- Rates and Risk Factors for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptomatology among Adult Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipients and Their Informal Caregivers.Biology of blood and marrow transplantation : journal of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation · 2019Trial
- Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Outcomes of Financial Stress in Survivors of Critical Illness.Critical care medicine · 2018Trial
- Trial
- Anxiety, Depression, and Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms in Relatives of Patients Admitted to Intensive and Cardiac Intensive Care Units.Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings · 2026Article
- Factors influencing the acceptability of remote multicomponent rehabilitation versus standard care following critical illness: a theory-informed qualitative study embedded within the iRehab trial.Journal of intensive care · 2026Article
- The Development, Acceptability and Suitability of an Information and Well-Being Booklet for Family Members of Intensive Care Unit Patients.Nursing in critical care · 2026Article
- Determinants of caregiver burden among family caregivers of post-intensive care syndrome patients at 2 weeks post-discharge: a cross-sectional study.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Recovery After Critical Illness: A Meta-Ethnography of Patient, Family and Staff Perspectives.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Review
- [Contribution of hospital chaplains in supporting relatives of intensive care patients].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2026Review
- Lives Transformed-The Experiences of Significant Others Supporting Patients With Severe Burn Injury: A Narrative Inquiry.Journal of clinical nursing · 2026Article
- The Hidden Costs of ICU Caregiving: Economic, Mental Health and Spiritual Consequences.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The role of family caregivers in critical illness survivor recovery at home: A qualitative study.Journal of health services research & policy · 2026Article
- Development and preliminary validation of the post-intensive care syndrome-family assessment scale.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Mapping the evidence on post-intensive care syndrome in paediatric populations: A scoping review protocol.PloS one · 2026Article
- Evaluating a stress management intervention effects on post-ICU syndrome in families: study protocol for a single-center, prospective, parallel-design, randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
50 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCritical illness and the problems faced after ICU discharge do not only affect the patient, it also negatively impacts patients' informal caregivers. There is no review which summarizes all types of burden reported in informal caregivers of ICU survivors. It is important that the burdens these informal caregivers suffer are systematically assessed so the caregivers can receive the professional care they need. We aimed to provide a complete overview of the types of burdens reported in informal caregivers of adult ICU survivors, to make recommendations on which burdens should be assessed in this population, and which tools should be used to assess them.
methodWe performed a systematic search in PubMed and CINAHL from database inception until June 2014. All articles reporting on burdens in informal caregivers of adult ICU survivors were included. Two independent reviewers used a standardized form to extract characteristics of informal caregivers, types of burdens and instruments used to assess these burdens. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa and the PEDro scales.
resultsThe search yielded 2704 articles, of which we included 28 in our review. The most commonly reported outcomes were psychosocial burden. Six months after ICU discharge, the prevalence of anxiety was between 15% and 24%, depression between 4.7% and 36.4% and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) between 35% and 57.1%. Loss of employment, financial burden, lifestyle interference and low health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were also frequently reported. The most commonly used tools were the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression questionnaire, and Impact of Event Scale (IES). The quality of observational studies was low and of randomized studies moderate to fair.
conclusionsInformal caregivers of ICU survivors suffer a substantial variety of burdens. Although the quality of the included studies was poor, there is evidence that burden in the psychosocial field is most prevalent. We suggest screening informal caregivers of ICU survivors for anxiety, depression, PTSD, and HRQoL using respectively the HADS, IES and Short Form 36 and recommend a follow-up period of at least 6 months.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.