ArticleIntensive care medicine experimental2017
'In a dark place, we find ourselves': light intensity in critical care units.
Article in Intensive care medicine experimental, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sound and light levels in intensive care units in a large urban hospital in the United States.Chronobiology international · 2023Trial
- Effect of external cues on clock-driven protection from influenza A infection.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Article
- Light levels in a modern intensive care unit: Impact of time of year, window directionality, and outdoor light levels.Chronobiology international · 2025Article
- Unveiling the novel role of circadian rhythms in sepsis and septic shock: unexplored implications for chronotherapy.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Review
- Effects of dim light at night in C57BL/6 J mice on recovery after spinal cord injury.Experimental neurology · 2024Article
- Review
- Postoperative cognitive dysfunction: spotlight on light, circadian rhythms, and sleep.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- Evaluation of the sensory environment in a large tertiary ICU.Critical care (London, England) · 2023Observational
- Sleep and critical illness: a review.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Review
- Characterizing light-dark cycles in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: a retrospective observational study.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Chronic exposure to dim light at night disrupts cell-mediated immune response and decreases longevity in aged female mice.Chronobiology international · 2022Article
- Circadian rest-activity misalignment in critically ill medical intensive care unit patients.Journal of sleep research · 2022Article
- Article
- Light Levels in ICU Patient Rooms: Dimming of Daytime Light in Occupied Rooms.Journal of patient experience · 2021Article
- Dim light at night exacerbates stroke outcome.The European journal of neuroscience · 2020Article
- Brighter Days May Be Ahead: Continuous Measurement of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Light and Sound.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2020Article
- Impact of Light Intensity on Sleep of Patients in the Intensive Care Unit: A Prospective Observational Study.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2020Article
- Metabolomics Pilot Study Identifies Desynchronization of 24-H Rhythms and Distinct Intra-patient Variability Patterns in Critical Illness: A Preliminary Report.Frontiers in neurology · 2020Article
- Sleep in the Intensive Care Unit: Strategies for Improvement.Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine · 2019Review
- Dim light at night impairs recovery from global cerebral ischemia.Experimental neurology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Intensive care units provide specialised care for critically ill patients around the clock. However, intensive care unit patients have disrupted circadian rhythms. Furthermore, disrupted circadian rhythms are associated with worse outcome. As light is the most powerful 're-setter' of circadian rhythm, we measured light intensity on intensive care unit. Light intensity was low compared to daylight during the 'day'; frequent bright light interruptions occurred over 'night'. These findings are predicted to disrupt circadian rhythms and impair entrainment to external time. Bright lighting during daytime and black out masks at night might help maintain biological rhythms in critically ill patients and improve clinical outcomes.
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.