Risk Factors for Post-Intensive Care Syndrome in Family Members (PICS-F) of Adult Patients: A Systematic Review.
Abstract Background: Relatives of critically ill patients who either die or survive the intensive care unit (ICU) may develop substantial mental health problems that are collectively defined as Post-Intensive Care Syndrome in Family (PICS-F). It is important to document in a systematic manner all of the possible risk factors associated with the development of the latter.Methods: By using a systematized search strategy we included studies that focused on PICS-F in relatives of adult ICU patients and reported the risk factors associated with its development. The search was conducted within PubMed, Embase, SCOPUS, clinicaltrials.gov and Cochrane Library on the 2nd of May, 2021. PRISMA guidelines were implemented for appropriate reporting. Results: We included 52 papers covering 8293 relatives. The prevalence of PICS-F varied between 2.5-69%. We identified over 70 different risk factors of PICS-F, among which we distinguished patient-related (n=28), relative-related (n=33) and medical staff-related (n=9) risk factors. Among 17 studies with the highest quality we identified the 7 following factors associated with the development of PICS-F: younger age of a patient, death of a patient, depression in relatives during the ICU stay, history of mental disorders in relatives, being a spouse and low satisfaction with communication & care in the ICU.Conclusions: PICS-F is a highly prevalent phenomenon that may be exacerbated by a number of risk factors. Special attention should be paid to proper identification of susceptible relatives in order to prevent PICS.