By Marissa Wagner Mery, Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2020
Since nearly half of all patients with severe respiratory failure who are placed on a ventilator die, we tend to declare victory if a COVID-19 patient comes off the machine alive.
But the reality is that many survivors of severe respiratory failure and other forms of critical illness fare poorly, even if they do beat their underlying disease. Their likelihood of developing PTSD, depression or anxiety is similar to that of soldiers returning from combat.
Many show symptoms of major cognitive dysfunction, some similar to moderate traumatic brain injury, others similar to Alzheimer’s. A multitude of physical and psychological injuries can contribute to this cognitive effect, with delirium showing the strongest influence. Delirium often manifests in patients as agitation or an inability to focus, and it has recently been associated with markers of anatomic brain injury.
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