ArticleBMC anesthesiology2026
Post-traumatic stress disorder following intensive care for COVID-19: a single-center retrospective follow-up study.
Article in BMC anesthesiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSevere COVID-19 frequently required prolonged intensive care, including mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Survivors of such critical illness may develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
methodsWe conducted a single-center retrospective follow-up study of COVID-19 ICU survivors at Saarland University Medical Center, Germany, assessing ICD-11 trauma-related disorders using the validated International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ) and analyzing associations with clinical factors.
resultsOf 110 eligible patients, 42 (38.2%) valid datasets were obtained. The overall prevalence of ICD-11 trauma-related disorders (PTSD or CPTSD) was 23.8% (95% CI 12.1-39.5%; n = 10), with PTSD diagnosed in 6 participants (14.3%; 95% CI 5.4-28.5%) and CPTSD in 4 participants (9.5%; 95% CI 2.7-22.6%). No statistically significant associations were found for any of the examined variables. Exploratory subgroup analyses revealed numerically higher rates of trauma-related disorders in patients with prior psychiatric treatment (40.0% vs. 21.6%), ECMO therapy (33.3% vs. 16.7%), or renal replacement therapy (50.0% vs. 17.6%); however, these findings should be interpreted with caution given the limited sample size.
conclusionsNearly one quarter of COVID-19 ICU survivors met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD or CPTSD, a prevalence comparable to that observed in other critically ill populations. No statistically significant associations were identified, and the observed subgroup differences should be regarded as exploratory and hypothesis-generating. The reported prevalence of PTSD/CPTSD highlights the potential value of systematic screening for trauma-related disorder and the integration of psychological support into post-ICU care. Larger prospective multicenter studies are needed to confirm these findings and further characterize potential risk factors.
trial registrationThe study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics committee of the Medical Association of Saarland (Number 98/22).
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.