Photo Credit: ugurhan

The following is a summary of “Trajectory of sleep after critical illness: a 24-month follow-up study,” published in the February 2025 issue of Annals of Intensive Care by Henríquez-Beltrán et al. 

The protracted physical and psychological morbidity experienced by survivors of critical illness, including documented persistent sleep disturbances at 12 months post-discharge, remains under-investigated in longitudinal studies extending beyond this timeframe.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine sleep patterns over 24 months following critical illness.  

They enrolled individuals with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection during their intensive care unit stay. Sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]), mental health (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]), and QoL (12-item Short Form Survey [SF-12]) were assessed in the short-term, and at 12- and 24-months post-discharge. Good sleep quality was defined as a PSQI score of ≤5, while minimal clinically important improvement (MCII) was a ≥4-point PSQI reduction from the short-term to 24-month follow-up.  

The results showed 196 individuals (69.9% males) with a median [P_25;P _75] age of 62.0 [53.0;67.2] years. The global population had a mean (95% CI) PSQI score change of −0.91 (−1.50 to −0.31) from the short-term assessment to the 24-month follow-up and 3 distinct sleep trajectory groups were identified: (i) the healthy group, maintaining good sleep quality; (ii) the MCII group, initially experiencing poor sleep but improving to match the healthy group; and (iii) the non-MCII group, with persistent poor sleep quality. The PSQI score trajectories closely aligned with those of the HADS and 12-Item short form survey [SF-12] mental scores.  

Investigators concluded a portion of survivors with critical illness required up to 24 months for sleep recovery, while others showed no substantial improvement, and the trajectories were strongly linked to mental health. 

Source: annalsofintensivecare.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13613-025-01449-9